Table level database restore in a data storage system

ABSTRACT

The data storage system according to certain aspects can implement table level database restore. Table level database restore may refer to restoring a database table and its related data without restoring the entire database. The data storage system may use table metadata index to implement table level restore. A table metadata index may be created for each table, e.g., during a backup of the database. The table metadata index for a table can include any type of information for restoring the table and its related data. Some examples of the type of information included in the table metadata index include the following: container for the table, table backup location, system data, table index, table relationships, etc. Table metadata index can make the restoring of tables fast and efficient by packaging information that can be used to restore a table and its related data in an easily accessible manner.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/225,719 filed on Dec. 19, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/677,898 filed on Aug. 15, 2017, which isa continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/041,771, filed onSep. 30, 2013 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,766,987 B2), which claims the benefitof priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/751,522, filedon Jan. 11, 2013 with the title of “Table Level Database Restore In AData Storage System,” the disclosures of which are incorporated hereinby reference. Any and all priority claims identified in the ApplicationData Sheet, or any correction thereto, are hereby incorporated byreference under 37 CFR 1.57.

BACKGROUND

Businesses worldwide recognize the commercial value of their data andseek reliable, cost-effective ways to protect the information stored ontheir computer networks while minimizing impact on productivity.Protecting information is often part of a routine process that isperformed within an organization.

A company might back up critical computing systems such as databases,file servers, web servers, and so on as part of a daily, weekly, ormonthly maintenance schedule. The company may similarly protectcomputing systems used by each of its employees, such as those used byan accounting department, marketing department, engineering department,and so forth.

Given the rapidly expanding volume of data under management, companiesalso continue to seek innovative techniques for managing data growth, inaddition to protecting data. For instance, companies often implementmigration techniques for moving data to lower cost storage over time anddata reduction techniques for reducing redundant data, pruning lowerpriority data, etc.

Enterprises also increasingly view their stored data as a valuableasset. Along these lines, customers are looking for solutions that notonly protect and manage, but also leverage their data. For instance,solutions providing data analysis capabilities, improved datapresentation and access features, and the like, are in increasingdemand.

Data for an enterprise may include data stored in databases, which canbe backed up, e.g., on a regular basis. The backed up database data maybe restored for various purposes.

SUMMARY

Data of a database may need to be restored from its backup copy, e.g.,if data is corrupted or otherwise unavailable. In many cases, only apart of the database data may need to be restored. Due to the abovechallenges, there is a need for restoring backed up database data in anefficient manner. In order to address these and other challenges,certain storage systems disclosed herein are configured to implementtable level restore of a database. Table level restore may refer torestoring a database table and its related data without restoring theentire database. Examples of related data for a table can includedatabase application system data used by the table (e.g., databaseschema, tablespaces, system objects, etc.), other tables referenced bythe table, indexes for the table and the other tables referenced by thetable, etc. A data storage system according to certain aspects may usetable metadata index in order to implement the table level restorefeature. Table metadata index can include information for restoring allor some of the tables in a database and their related data. Such tablemetadata index may be created during a backup of the database.

A table metadata index may be created for each table. The table metadataindex of a table can include any type of information for restoring thetable and its related data. Some examples of the type of informationincluded in the table metadata index include the following: containerfor the table, table backup location, system data, table index, tablerelationships, etc. A container may refer to a file that includes thedata for the table (e.g., tablespace). Table backup location mayindicate the location in secondary storage where the data for the tableis stored. System data may refer to system objects, database objects,and/or any other database system information and/or structures used bythe table or the database system. Index may refer to a data structurethat improves the speed of data retrieval operations on the table. Tablerelationships may indicate what other tables are referenced by thetable, or what other tables reference the table. The table metadataindex can include metadata about the related tables. The type ofinformation included about the related tables can be the same as ordifferent from the type of information included for the table, dependingon the embodiment. A table metadata index can package information thatcan be used to restore a table and its related data in an easilyaccessible way, making the restoring of a table fast and efficient.

In some embodiments, the container for the table may be a physicalcontainer. The backup of the database can occur at physical file levelor block level. The table or objects used by the table can be restoredby restoring a part of one or more physical containers. In otherembodiments, the container for the table may be a logical container.

In this manner, the data storage system according to certain aspects canrestore a table in a database, along with its related data, withoutrestoring the entire database. In addition, after a table is restored,the table may be fully functional, and the user may use or interact withthe restored table in the same or similar manner as with a primary copyof the table. For example, the user can browse the restored table andall other tables referenced by the table, can perform queries on thetable, etc.

According to certain embodiments, a method is provided for storingdatabase tables in secondary storage of a data storage system. Themethod can include initiating copying of data associated with a databaseapplication in primary storage to secondary storage, the databaseapplication executing on one or more client computing devices incommunication with the primary storage, wherein the data associated withthe database application comprises data of a plurality of databasetables. The method may further include determining a relationship amongthe plurality of database tables. The method can additionally includecreating a table metadata index associated with a first table of theplurality of database tables, wherein the table metadata index comprisesinformation for restoring the first table and its associated data. Themethod can further include copying data relating to the first table tothe secondary storage.

In some embodiments, a data storage system for storing database tablesis provided. The data storage system may include a storage managermodule, executing on computer hardware comprising one or more computerprocessors, configured to initiate copying of data associated with adatabase application in primary storage to secondary storage, thedatabase application executing on one more client computing devices incommunication with the primary storage, wherein the data associated withthe database application comprises a plurality of database tables. Thedata storage system may also include a table level restore module. Thetable level restore module can be configured to determine a relationshipamong the plurality of database tables. The table level restore modulemay be further configured to create a table metadata index associatedwith a first table of the plurality of database tables, wherein thetable metadata index comprises information for restoring the first tableand its associated data. The data storage system can also include amedia agent module configured to copy data relating to the first tableto the secondary storage.

According to other aspects of this disclosure, a method is provided forrestoring a database table from secondary storage in a data storagesystem. The method can include providing a user interface on a displaydevice in communication with one or more computing devices. The methodmay further include displaying a list of a plurality of database tablesassociated with a database application in the user interface, dataassociated with the plurality of database tables being stored insecondary storage, the database application executing on one or moreclient computing devices. The method can additionally include receivingan indication of a first table from the list of the plurality ofdatabase tables to restore. The method can further include restoringdata relating to the first table from the secondary storage to primarystorage by accessing a table metadata index relating to the first table,without restoring all of data associated with the database applicationin the secondary storage, wherein the table metadata index comprisesinformation for restoring the first table and its associated data.

According to yet further aspects of this disclosure, a data storagesystem for restoring a database table from secondary storage isprovided. The data storage system may include one or more computingdevices configured to provide a user interface on a display device incommunication with the one or more computing devices. The one or morecomputing devices may also be configured to display a list of aplurality of database tables associated with a database application inthe user interface, data associated with the plurality of databasetables being stored in secondary storage, the database applicationexecuting on one or more client computing devices. The data storagesystem may also include a table level restore module executing oncomputer hardware comprising one or more computer processors. The tablelevel restore module can be configured to receive an indication of afirst table from the list of the plurality of database tables torestore. The table level restore module may be further configured torestore data relating to the first table from the secondary storage toprimary storage by accessing a table metadata index relating to thefirst table, without restoring all of data associated with the databaseapplication in the secondary storage, wherein the table metadata indexcomprises information for restoring the first table and its associateddata.

According to other embodiments, a method is provided for restoring adatabase table from secondary storage in a data storage system. Themethod can include receiving instructions to restore a first one of aplurality of database tables from secondary storage to primary storage,wherein the plurality of database tables is associated with a databaseapplication executing on one or more client computing devices, andwherein a secondary copy of data associated with the databaseapplication is stored in the secondary storage and comprises datarelating to the plurality of database tables. The method may furtherinclude accessing a table metadata index associated with the firsttable, wherein the table metadata index comprises information forrestoring the first table and its associated data. The method canadditionally include restoring data relating to the first table from thesecondary storage to the primary storage without restoring the entiresecondary copy of the data associated with the database application.

According to certain embodiments, a data storage system for restoring adatabase table from secondary storage is provided. The data storagesystem may include one or more media agent modules executing on computerhardware comprising one or more computer processors. The one or moremedia agents can be configured to copy data from secondary storage toprimary storage. The data storage system may also include a table levelrestore module executing on computer hardware comprising one or morecomputer processors. The table level restore module can be configured toreceive instructions to restore a first one of a plurality of databasetables from secondary storage to primary storage, wherein the pluralityof database tables is associated with a database application executingon one or more client computing devices, and wherein a secondary copy ofdata associated with the database application is stored in the secondarystorage and comprises data relating to the plurality of database tables.The table level restore module may be further configured to access atable metadata index associated with the first table, wherein the tablemetadata index comprises information for restoring the first table andits associated data. The table level restore module can be furtherconfigured to restore, using the one or more media agents, data relatingto the first table from the secondary storage to the primary storagewithout restoring the entire secondary copy of the data associated withthe database application.

For purposes of summarizing the disclosure, certain aspects, advantagesand novel features of the inventions have been described herein. It isto be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may beachieved in accordance with any particular embodiment of the invention.Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner thatachieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taughtherein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taughtor suggested herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1B is a detailed view of a primary storage device, a secondarystorage device, and some examples of primary data and secondary copydata.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of an exemplary information management systemincluding a storage manager, one or more data agents, and one or moremedia agents.

FIG. 1D is a block diagram illustrating a scalable informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1E illustrates certain secondary copy operations according to anexemplary storage policy.

FIG. 2 is a data flow diagram illustrative of the interaction betweenthe various components of an exemplary storage system configured toimplement table metadata index for table level database restoreaccording to certain embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a data flow diagram illustrative of the interaction betweenthe various components of another exemplary storage system configured toimplement table level database restore according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrative of one embodiment of a routine forcreating table metadata index for table level database restore accordingto certain embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrative of one embodiment of a routine forrestoring a table using table level database restore according tocertain embodiments.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary user interface for selecting table level databaserestore as an option for backup according to certain embodiments.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary user interface for restoring a table using tablelevel database restore according to certain embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are described herein for table level restore ofdatabases. Examples of such systems and methods are discussed in furtherdetail herein, e.g., with respect to FIGS. 2-5. Moreover, it will beappreciated table level database restore may be implemented byinformation management systems such as those that will now be describedwith respect to FIGS. 1A-1E. And, as will be described, the componentryfor implementing table level restore can be incorporated into suchsystems.

Information Management System Overview

With the increasing importance of protecting and leveraging data,organizations simply cannot afford to take the risk of losing criticaldata. Moreover, runaway data growth and other modern realities makeprotecting and managing data an increasingly difficult task. There istherefore a need for efficient, powerful, and user-friendly solutionsfor protecting and managing data.

Depending on the size of the organization, there are typically many dataproduction sources which are under the purview of tens, hundreds, oreven thousands of employees or other individuals. In the past,individual employees were sometimes responsible for managing andprotecting their data. A patchwork of hardware and software pointsolutions have been applied in other cases. These solutions were oftenprovided by different vendors and had limited or no interoperability.

Certain embodiments described herein provide systems and methods capableof addressing these and other shortcomings of prior approaches byimplementing unified, organization-wide information management. FIG. 1Ashows one such information management system 100, which generallyincludes combinations of hardware and software configured to protect andmanage data and metadata generated and used by the various computingdevices in the information management system 100.

The organization which employs the information management system 100 maybe a corporation or other business entity, non-profit organization,educational institution, household, governmental agency, or the like.

Generally, the systems and associated components described herein may becompatible with and/or provide some or all of the functionality of thesystems and corresponding components described in one or more of thefollowing U.S. patents and patent application publications assigned toCommVault Systems, Inc., each of which is hereby incorporated in itsentirety by reference herein:

-   -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2010-0332456, entitled “DATA OBJECT STORE AND        SERVER FOR A CLOUD STORAGE ENVIRONMENT, INCLUDING DATA        DEDUPLICATION AND DATA MANAGEMENT ACROSS MULTIPLE CLOUD STORAGE        SITES”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,880, entitled “MODULAR BACKUP AND RETRIEVAL        SYSTEM USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH A STORAGE AREA NETWORK”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, entitled “HIERARCHICAL SYSTEMS AND        METHODS FOR PROVIDING A UNIFIED VIEW OF STORAGE INFORMATION”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,282, entitled “HIERARCHICAL BACKUP AND        RETRIEVAL SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR        DYNAMICALLY PERFORMING STORAGE OPERATIONS IN A COMPUTER        NETWORK”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,579, entitled “METABASE FOR FACILITATING        DATA CLASSIFICATION”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,229,954, entitled “MANAGING COPIES OF DATA”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR        MONITORING APPLICATION DATA IN A DATA REPLICATION SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,782, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR        PERFORMING A SNAPSHOT AND FOR RESTORING DATA”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR        PERFORMING AUXILIARY STORAGE OPERATIONS”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0084268, entitled “CONTENT-ALIGNED,        BLOCK-BASED DEDUPLICATION”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0224846, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD TO        SUPPORT SINGLE INSTANCE STORAGE OPERATIONS”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0329534, entitled “APPLICATION-AWARE AND        REMOTE SINGLE INSTANCE DATA MANAGEMENT”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150826, entitled “DISTRIBUTED        DEDUPLICATED STORAGE SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150818, entitled “CLIENT-SIDE        REPOSITORY IN A NETWORKED DEDUPLICATED STORAGE SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR OFFLINE        INDEXING OF CONTENT AND CLASSIFYING STORED DATA”; and    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,156,086, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR        STORED DATA VERIFICATION”.

The illustrated information management system 100 includes one or moreclient computing device 102 having at least one application 110executing thereon, and one or more primary storage devices 104 storingprimary data 112. The client computing device(s) 102 and the primarystorage devices 104 may generally be referred to in some cases as aprimary storage subsystem 117.

Depending on the context, the term “information management system” canrefer to generally all of the illustrated hardware and softwarecomponents. Or, in other instances, the term may refer to only a subsetof the illustrated components.

For instance, in some cases information management system 100 generallyrefers to a combination of specialized components used to protect, move,manage, manipulate and/or process data and metadata generated by theclient computing devices 102. However, the term may generally not referto the underlying components that generate and/or store the primary data112, such as the client computing devices 102 themselves, theapplications 110 and operating system residing on the client computingdevices 102, and the primary storage devices 104.

As an example, “information management system” may sometimes refer onlyto one or more of the following components and corresponding datastructures: storage managers, data agents, and media agents. Thesecomponents will be described in further detail below.

Client Computing Devices

There are typically a variety of sources in an organization that producedata to be protected and managed. As just one illustrative example, in acorporate environment such data sources can be employee workstations andcompany servers such as a mail server, a web server, or the like. In theinformation management system 100, the data generation sources includethe one or more client computing devices 102.

The client computing devices 102 may include, without limitation, one ormore: workstations, personal computers, desktop computers, or othertypes of generally fixed computing systems such as mainframe computersand minicomputers.

The client computing devices 102 can also include mobile or portablecomputing devices, such as one or more laptops, tablet computers,personal data assistants, mobile phones (such as smartphones), and othermobile or portable computing devices such as embedded computers, set topboxes, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable computers, etc.

In some cases, each client computing device 102 is associated with oneor more users and/or corresponding user accounts, of employees or otherindividuals.

The term “client computing device” is used herein because theinformation management system 100 generally “serves” the data managementand protection needs for the data generated by the client computingdevices 102. However, the use of this term does not imply that theclient computing devices 102 cannot be “servers” in other respects. Forinstance, a particular client computing device 102 may act as a serverwith respect to other devices, such as other client computing devices102. As just a few examples, the client computing devices 102 caninclude mail servers, file servers, database servers, and web servers.

The client computing devices 102 may additionally include virtualizedand/or cloud computing resources. For instance, one or more virtualmachines may be provided to the organization by a third-party cloudservice vendor. Or, in some embodiments, the client computing devices102 include one or more virtual machine(s) running on a virtual machinehost computing device operated by the organization. As one example, theorganization may use one virtual machine as a database server andanother virtual machine as a mail server. A virtual machine manager(VMM) (e.g., a Hypervisor) may manage the virtual machines, and resideand execute on the virtual machine host computing device.

Each client computing device 102 may have one or more applications 110(e.g., software applications) executing thereon which generate andmanipulate the data that is to be protected from loss.

The applications 110 generally facilitate the operations of anorganization (or multiple affiliated organizations), and can include,without limitation, mail server applications (e.g., Microsoft ExchangeServer), file server applications, mail client applications (e.g.,Microsoft Exchange Client), database applications (e.g., SQL, Oracle,SAP, Lotus Notes Database), word processing applications (e.g.,Microsoft Word), spreadsheet applications, financial applications,presentation applications, browser applications, mobile applications,entertainment applications, and so on.

The applications 110 can include at least one operating system (e.g.,Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, IBM z/OS, Linux, other Unix-basedoperating systems, etc.), which may support one or more file systems andhost the other applications 110.

As shown, the client computing devices 102 and other components in theinformation management system 100 can be connected to one another viaone or more communication pathways 114. The communication pathways 114can include one or more networks or other connection types including asany of following, without limitation: the Internet, a wide area network(WAN), a local area network (LAN), a Storage Area Network (SAN), a FibreChannel connection, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) connection,a virtual private network (VPN), a token ring or TCP/IP based network,an intranet network, a point-to-point link, a cellular network, awireless data transmission system, a two-way cable system, aninteractive kiosk network, a satellite network, a broadband network, abaseband network, other appropriate wired, wireless, or partiallywired/wireless computer or telecommunications networks, combinations ofthe same or the like. The communication pathways 114 in some cases mayalso include application programming interfaces (APIs) including, e.g.,cloud service provider APIs, virtual machine management APIs, and hostedservice provider APIs.

Primary Data and Exemplary Primary Storage Devices

Primary data 112 according to some embodiments is production data orother “live” data generated by the operating system and otherapplications 110 residing on a client computing device 102. The primarydata 112 is stored on the primary storage device(s) 104 and is organizedvia a file system supported by the client computing device 102. Forinstance, the client computing device(s) 102 and correspondingapplications 110 may create, access, modify, write, delete, andotherwise use primary data 112.

Primary data 112 is generally in the native format of the sourceapplication 110. According to certain aspects, primary data 112 is aninitial or first (e.g., created before any other copies or before atleast one other copy) stored copy of data generated by the sourceapplication 110. Primary data 112 in some cases is created substantiallydirectly from data generated by the corresponding source applications110.

The primary data 112 may sometimes be referred to as a “primary copy” inthe sense that it is a discrete set of data. However, the use of thisterm does not necessarily imply that the “primary copy” is a copy in thesense that it was copied or otherwise derived from another storedversion.

The primary storage devices 104 storing the primary data 112 may berelatively fast and/or expensive (e.g., a disk drive, a hard-disk array,solid state memory, etc.). In addition, primary data 112 may be intendedfor relatively short term retention (e.g., several hours, days, orweeks).

According to some embodiments, the client computing device 102 canaccess primary data 112 from the primary storage device 104 by makingconventional file system calls via the operating system. Primary data112 representing files may include structured data (e.g., databasefiles), unstructured data (e.g., documents), and/or semi-structureddata. Some specific examples are described below with respect to FIG.1B.

It can be useful in performing certain tasks to break the primary data112 up into units of different granularities. In general, primary data112 can include files, directories, file system volumes, data blocks,extents, or any other types or granularities of data objects. As usedherein, a “data object” can refer to both (1) any file that is currentlyaddressable by a file system or that was previously addressable by thefile system (e.g., an archive file) and (2) a subset of such a file.

As will be described in further detail, it can also be useful inperforming certain functions of the information management system 100 toaccess and modify metadata within the primary data 112. Metadatagenerally includes information about data objects or characteristicsassociated with the data objects.

Metadata can include, without limitation, one or more of the following:the data owner (e.g., the client or user that generates the data), thelast modified time (e.g., the time of the most recent modification ofthe data object), a data object name (e.g., a file name), a data objectsize (e.g., a number of bytes of data), information about the content(e.g., an indication as to the existence of a particular search term),to/from information for email (e.g., an email sender, recipient, etc.),creation date, file type (e.g., format or application type), lastaccessed time, application type (e.g., type of application thatgenerated the data object), location/network (e.g., a current, past orfuture location of the data object and network pathways to/from the dataobject), frequency of change (e.g., a period in which the data object ismodified), business unit (e.g., a group or department that generates,manages or is otherwise associated with the data object), and aginginformation (e.g., a schedule, such as a time period, in which the dataobject is migrated to secondary or long term storage), boot sectors,partition layouts, file location within a file folder directorystructure, user permissions, owners, groups, access control lists[ACLs]), system metadata (e.g., registry information), combinations ofthe same or the like.

In addition to metadata generated by or related to file systems andoperating systems, some of the applications 110 maintain indices ofmetadata for data objects, e.g., metadata associated with individualemail messages. Thus, each data object may be associated withcorresponding metadata. The use of metadata to perform classificationand other functions is described in greater detail below.

Each of the client computing devices 102 are associated with and/or incommunication with one or more of the primary storage devices 104storing corresponding primary data 112. A client computing device 102may be considered to be “associated with” or “in communication with” aprimary storage device 104 if it is capable of one or more of: storingdata to the primary storage device 104, retrieving data from the primarystorage device 104, and modifying data retrieved from a primary storagedevice 104.

The primary storage devices 104 can include, without limitation, diskdrives, hard-disk arrays, semiconductor memory (e.g., solid statedrives), and network attached storage (NAS) devices. In some cases, theprimary storage devices 104 form part of a distributed file system. Theprimary storage devices 104 may have relatively fast I/O times and/orare relatively expensive in comparison to the secondary storage devices108. For example, the information management system 100 may generallyregularly access data and metadata stored on primary storage devices104, whereas data and metadata stored on the secondary storage devices108 is accessed relatively less frequently.

In some cases, each primary storage device 104 is dedicated to anassociated client computing devices 102. For instance, a primary storagedevice 104 in one embodiment is a local disk drive of a correspondingclient computing device 102. In other cases, one or more primary storagedevices 104 can be shared by multiple client computing devices 102. Asone example, a primary storage device 104 can be a disk array shared bya group of client computing devices 102, such as one of the followingtypes of disk arrays: EMC Clariion, EMC Symmetrix, EMC Celerra, DellEqualLogic, IBM XIV, NetApp FAS, HP EVA, and HP 3PAR.

The information management system 100 may also include hosted services(not shown), which may be hosted in some cases by an entity other thanthe organization that employs the other components of the informationmanagement system 100. For instance, the hosted services may be providedby various online service providers to the organization. Such serviceproviders can provide services including social networking services,hosted email services, or hosted productivity applications or otherhosted applications).

Hosted services may include software-as-a-service (SaaS),platform-as-a-service (PaaS), application service providers (ASPs),cloud services, or other mechanisms for delivering functionality via anetwork. As it provides services to users, each hosted service maygenerate additional data and metadata under management of theinformation management system 100, e.g., as primary data 112. In somecases, the hosted services may be accessed using one of the applications110. As an example, a hosted mail service may be accessed via browserrunning on a client computing device 102.

Secondary Copies and Exemplary Secondary Storage Devices

The primary data 112 stored on the primary storage devices 104 may becompromised in some cases, such as when an employee deliberately oraccidentally deletes or overwrites primary data 112 during their normalcourse of work. Or the primary storage devices 104 can be damaged orotherwise corrupted.

For recovery and/or regulatory compliance purposes, it is thereforeuseful to generate copies of the primary data 112. Accordingly, theinformation management system 100 includes one or more secondary storagecomputing devices 106 and one or more secondary storage devices 108configured to create and store one or more secondary copies 116 of theprimary data 112 and associated metadata. The secondary storagecomputing devices 106 and the secondary storage devices 108 may bereferred to in some cases as a secondary storage subsystem 118.

Creation of secondary copies 116 can help meet information managementgoals, such as: restoring data and/or metadata if an original version(e.g., of primary data 112) is lost (e.g., by deletion, corruption, ordisaster); allowing point-in-time recovery; complying with regulatorydata retention and electronic discovery (e-discovery) requirements;reducing utilized storage capacity; facilitating organization and searchof data; improving user access to data files across multiple computingdevices and/or hosted services; and implementing data retentionpolicies.

Types of secondary copy operations can include, without limitation,backup operations, archive operations, snapshot operations, replicationoperations (e.g., continuous data replication [CDR]), data retentionpolicies such as or information lifecycle management and hierarchicalstorage management operations, and the like. These specific typesoperations are discussed in greater detail below.

Regardless of the type of secondary copy operation, the client computingdevices 102 access or receive primary data 112 and communicate the data,e.g., over the communication pathways 114, for storage in the secondarystorage device(s) 108.

A secondary copy 116 can comprise a separate stored copy of applicationdata that is derived from one or more earlier created, stored copies(e.g., derived from primary data 112 or another secondary copy 116).Secondary copies 116 can include point-in-time data, and may be intendedfor relatively long-term retention (e.g., weeks, months or years),before some or all of the data is moved to other storage or isdiscarded.

In some cases, a secondary copy 116 is a copy of application datacreated and stored subsequent to at least one other stored instance(e.g., subsequent to corresponding primary data 112 or to anothersecondary copy 116), in a different storage device than at least oneprevious stored copy, and/or remotely from at least one previous storedcopy. Secondary copies 116 may be stored in relatively slow and/or lowcost storage (e.g., magnetic tape). A secondary copy 116 may be storedin a backup or archive format, or in some other format different thanthe native source application format or other primary data format.

In some cases, secondary copies 116 are indexed so users can browse andrestore at another point in time. After creation of a secondary copy 116representative of certain primary data 112, a pointer or other locationindicia (e.g., a stub) may be placed in primary data 112, or beotherwise associated with primary data 112 to indicate the currentlocation on the secondary storage device(s) 108.

Since an instance a data object or metadata in primary data 112 maychange over time as it is modified by an application 110 (or hostedservice or the operating system), the information management system 100may create and manage multiple secondary copies 116 of a particular dataobject or metadata, each representing the state of the data object inprimary data 112 at a particular point in time. Moreover, since aninstance of a data object in primary data 112 may eventually be deletedfrom the primary storage device 104 and the file system, the informationmanagement system 100 may continue to manage point-in-timerepresentations of that data object, even though the instance in primarydata 112 no longer exists.

For virtualized computing devices the operating system and otherapplications 110 of the client computing device(s) 102 may executewithin or under the management of virtualization software (e.g., a VMM),and the primary storage device(s) 104 may comprise a virtual diskcreated on a physical storage device. The information management system100 may create secondary copies 116 of the files or other data objectsin a virtual disk file and/or secondary copies 116 of the entire virtualdisk file itself (e.g., of an entire .vmdk file).

Secondary copies 116 may be distinguished from corresponding primarydata 112 in a variety of ways, some of which will now be described.First, as discussed, secondary copies 116 can be stored in a differentformat (e.g., backup, archive, or other non-native format) than primarydata 112. For this or other reasons, secondary copies 116 may not bedirectly useable by the applications 110 of the client computing device102, e.g., via standard system calls or otherwise without modification,processing, or other intervention by the information management system100.

Secondary copies 116 are also often stored on a secondary storage device108 that is inaccessible to the applications 110 running on the clientcomputing devices 102 (and/or hosted services). Some secondary copies116 may be “offline copies,” in that they are not readily available(e.g. not mounted to tape or disk). Offline copies can include copies ofdata that the information management system 100 can access without humanintervention (e.g. tapes within an automated tape library, but not yetmounted in a drive), and copies that the information management system100 can access only with at least some human intervention (e.g. tapeslocated at an offsite storage site).

The secondary storage devices 108 can include any suitable type ofstorage device such as, without limitation, one or more tape libraries,disk drives or other magnetic, non-tape storage devices, optical mediastorage devices, solid state storage devices, NAS devices, combinationsof the same, and the like. In some cases, the secondary storage devices108 are provided in a cloud (e.g. a private cloud or one operated by athird-party vendor).

The secondary storage device(s) 108 in some cases comprises a disk arrayor a portion thereof. In some cases, a single storage device (e.g., adisk array) is used for storing both primary data 112 and at least somesecondary copies 116. In one example, a disk array capable of performinghardware snapshots stores primary data 112 and creates and storeshardware snapshots of the primary data 112 as secondary copies 116.

The Use of Intermediary Devices for Creating Secondary Copies

Creating secondary copies can be a challenging task. For instance, therecan be hundreds or thousands of client computing devices 102 continuallygenerating large volumes of primary data 112 to be protected. Also,there can be significant overhead involved in the creation of secondarycopies 116. Moreover, secondary storage devices 108 may be specialpurpose components, and interacting with them can require specializedintelligence.

In some cases, the client computing devices 102 interact directly withthe secondary storage device 108 to create the secondary copies 116.However, in view of the factors described above, this approach cannegatively impact the ability of the client computing devices 102 toserve the applications 110 and produce primary data 112. Further, theclient computing devices 102 may not be optimized for interaction withthe secondary storage devices 108.

Thus, in some embodiments, the information management system 100includes one or more software and/or hardware components which generallyact as intermediaries between the client computing devices 102 and thesecondary storage devices 108. In addition to off-loading certainresponsibilities from the client computing devices 102, theseintermediary components can provide other benefits. For instance, asdiscussed further below with respect to FIG. 1D, distributing some ofthe work involved in creating secondary copies 116 can enhancescalability.

The intermediary components can include one or more secondary storagecomputing devices 106 as shown in FIG. 1A and/or one or more mediaagents, which can be software modules residing on correspondingsecondary storage computing devices 106 (or other appropriate devices).Media agents are discussed below (e.g., with respect to FIGS. 1C-1E).

The secondary storage computing device(s) 106 can comprise anyappropriate type of computing device and can include, withoutlimitation, any of the types of fixed and portable computing devicesdescribed above with respect to the client computing devices 102. Insome cases, the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 includespecialized hardware and/or software componentry for interacting withthe secondary storage devices 108.

To create a secondary copy 116, the client computing device 102communicates the primary data 112 to be copied (or a processed versionthereof) to the designated secondary storage computing device 106, viathe communication pathway 114. The secondary storage computing device106 in turn conveys the received data (or a processed version thereof)to the secondary storage device 108. In some such configurations, thecommunication pathway 114 between the client computing device 102 andthe secondary storage computing device 106 comprises a portion of a LAN,WAN or SAN. In other cases, at least some client computing devices 102communicate directly with the secondary storage devices 108 (e.g., viaFibre Channel or SCSI connections).

Exemplary Primary Data and an Exemplary Secondary Copy

FIG. 1B is a detailed view showing some specific examples of primarydata stored on the primary storage device(s) 104 and secondary copy datastored on the secondary storage device(s) 108, with other components inthe system removed for the purposes of illustration. Stored on theprimary storage device(s) 104 are primary data objects including wordprocessing documents 119A-B, spreadsheets 120, presentation documents122, video files 124, image files 126, email mailboxes 128 (andcorresponding email messages 129A-C), html/xml or other types of markuplanguage files 130, databases 132 and corresponding tables 133A-133C).

Some or all primary data objects are associated with a primary copy ofobject metadata (e.g., “Meta1-11”), which may be file system metadataand/or application specific metadata. Stored on the secondary storagedevice(s) 108 are secondary copy objects 134A-C which may include copiesof or otherwise represent corresponding primary data objects andmetadata.

As shown, the secondary copy objects 134A-C can individually representmore than one primary data object. For example, secondary copy dataobject 134A represents three separate primary data objects 133C, 122 and129C (represented as 133C′, 122′ and 129C′, respectively). Moreover, asindicated by the prime mark (′), a secondary copy object may store arepresentation of a primary data object or metadata differently than theoriginal format, e.g., in a compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, orother modified format.

Exemplary Information Management System Architecture

The information management system 100 can incorporate a variety ofdifferent hardware and software components, which can in turn beorganized with respect to one another in many different configurations,depending on the embodiment. There are critical design choices involvedin specifying the functional responsibilities of the components and therole of each component in the information management system 100. Forinstance, as will be discussed, such design choices can impactperformance as well as the adaptability of the information managementsystem 100 to data growth or other changing circumstances.

FIG. 1C shows an information management system 100 designed according tothese considerations and which includes: a central storage orinformation manager 140 configured to perform certain control functions,one or more data agents 142 executing on the client computing device(s)102 configured to process primary data 112, and one or more media agents144 executing on the one or more secondary storage computing devices 106for performing tasks involving the secondary storage devices 108.

Storage Manager

As noted, the number of components in the information management system100 and the amount of data under management can be quite large. Managingthe components and data is therefore a significant task, and a task thatcan grow in an often unpredictable fashion as the quantity of componentsand data scale to meet the needs of the organization.

For these and other reasons, according to certain embodiments,responsibility for controlling the information management system 100, orat least a significant portion of that responsibility, is allocated tothe storage manager 140.

By distributing control functionality in this manner, the storagemanager 140 can be adapted independently according to changingcircumstances. Moreover, a host computing device can be selected to bestsuit the functions of the storage manager 140. These and otheradvantages are described in further detail below with respect to FIG.1D.

The storage manager 140 may be a software module or other application.The storage manager generally initiates, coordinates and/or controlsstorage and other information management operations performed by theinformation management system 100, e.g., to protect and control theprimary data 112 and secondary copies 116 of data and metadata.

As shown by the dashed, arrowed lines, the storage manager 140 maycommunicate with and/or control some or all elements of the informationmanagement system 100, such as the data agents 142 and media agents 144.Thus, in certain embodiments, control information originates from thestorage manager 140, whereas payload data and metadata is generallycommunicated between the data agents 142 and the media agents 144 (orotherwise between the client computing device(s) 102 and the secondarystorage computing device(s) 106), e.g., at the direction of the storagemanager 140. In other embodiments, some information managementoperations are controlled by other components in the informationmanagement system 100 (e.g., the media agent(s) 144 or data agent(s)142), instead of or in combination with the storage manager 140.

According to certain embodiments, the storage manager provides one ormore of the following functions:

-   -   initiating execution of secondary copy operations;    -   managing secondary storage devices 108 and inventory/capacity of        the same;    -   allocating secondary storage devices 108 for secondary storage        operations;    -   monitoring completion of and providing status reporting related        to secondary storage operations;    -   tracking age information relating to secondary copies 116,        secondary storage devices 108, and comparing the age information        against retention guidelines;    -   tracking movement of data within the information management        system 100;    -   tracking logical associations between components in the        information management system 100;    -   protecting metadata associated with the information management        system 100; and    -   implementing operations management functionality.

The storage manager 140 may maintain a database 146 ofmanagement-related data and information management policies 148. Thedatabase 146 may include a management index 150 or other data structurethat stores logical associations between components of the system, userpreferences and/or profiles (e.g., preferences regarding encryption,compression, or deduplication of primary or secondary copy data,preferences regarding the scheduling, type, or other aspects of primaryor secondary copy or other operations, mappings of particularinformation management users or user accounts to certain computingdevices or other components, etc.), management tasks, mediacontainerization, or other useful data. For example, the storage manager140 may use the index 150 to track logical associations between mediaagents 144 and secondary storage devices 108 and/or movement of datafrom primary storage devices 104 to secondary storage devices 108.

Administrators and other employees may be able to manually configure andinitiate certain information management operations on an individualbasis. But while this may be acceptable for some recovery operations orother relatively less frequent tasks, it is often not workable forimplementing on-going organization-wide data protection and management.

Thus, the information management system 100 may utilize informationmanagement policies 148 for specifying and executing informationmanagement operations (e.g., on an automated basis). Generally, aninformation management policy 148 can include a data structure or otherinformation source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g., criteriaand rules) associated with storage or other information managementoperations.

The storage manager database 146 may maintain the information managementpolicies 148 and associated data, although the information managementpolicies 148 can be stored in any appropriate location. For instance, astorage policy may be stored as metadata in a media agent database 152or in a secondary storage device 108 (e.g., as an archive copy) for usein restore operations or other information management operations,depending on the embodiment. Information management policies 148 aredescribed further below.

According to certain embodiments, the storage manager database 146comprises a relational database (e.g., an SQL database) for trackingmetadata, such as metadata associated with secondary copy operations(e.g., what client computing devices 102 and corresponding data wereprotected). This and other metadata may additionally be stored in otherlocations, such as at the secondary storage computing devices 106 or onthe secondary storage devices 108, allowing data recovery without theuse of the storage manager 140.

As shown, the storage manager 140 may include a jobs agent 156, a userinterface 158, and a management agent 154, all of which may beimplemented as interconnected software modules or application programs.

The jobs agent 156 in some embodiments initiates, controls, and/ormonitors the status of some or all storage or other informationmanagement operations previously performed, currently being performed,or scheduled to be performed by the information management system 100.For instance, the jobs agent 156 may access information managementpolicies 148 to determine when and how to initiate and control secondarycopy and other information management operations, as will be discussedfurther.

The user interface 158 may include information processing and displaysoftware, such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), an applicationprogram interface (“API”), or other interactive interface through whichusers and system processes can retrieve information about the status ofinformation management operations (e.g., storage operations) or issueinstructions to the information management system 100 and itsconstituent components.

The storage manager 140 may also track information that permits it toselect, designate, or otherwise identify content indices, deduplicationdatabases, or similar databases or resources or data sets within itsinformation management cell (or another cell) to be searched in responseto certain queries. Such queries may be entered by the user viainteraction with the user interface 158.

Via the user interface 158, users may optionally issue instructions tothe components in the information management system 100 regardingperformance of storage and recovery operations. For example, a user maymodify a schedule concerning the number of pending secondary copyoperations. As another example, a user may employ the GUI to view thestatus of pending storage operations or to monitor the status of certaincomponents in the information management system 100 (e.g., the amount ofcapacity left in a storage device).

In general, the management agent 154 allows multiple informationmanagement systems 100 to communicate with one another. For example, theinformation management system 100 in some cases may be one informationmanagement subsystem or “cell” of a network of multiple cells adjacentto one another or otherwise logically related in a WAN or LAN. With thisarrangement, the cells may be connected to one another throughrespective management agents 154.

For instance, the management agent 154 can provide the storage manager140 with the ability to communicate with other components within theinformation management system 100 (and/or other cells within a largerinformation management system) via network protocols and applicationprogramming interfaces (“APIs”) including, e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, REST,virtualization software APIs, cloud service provider APIs, and hostedservice provider APIs. Inter-cell communication and hierarchy isdescribed in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,880, which isincorporated by reference herein.

Data Agents

As discussed, a variety of different types of applications 110 canreside on a given client computing device 102, including operatingsystems, database applications, e-mail applications, and virtualmachines, just to name a few. And, as part of the as part of the processof creating and restoring secondary copies 116, the client computingdevices 102 may be tasked with processing and preparing the primary data112 from these various different applications 110. Moreover, the natureof the processing/preparation can differ across clients and applicationtypes, e.g., due to inherent structural and formatting differencesbetween applications 110.

The one or more data agent(s) 142 are therefore advantageouslyconfigured in some embodiments to assist in the performance ofinformation management operations based on the type of data that isbeing protected, at a client-specific and/or application-specific level.

The data agent 142 may be a software module or component that isgenerally responsible for managing, initiating, or otherwise assistingin the performance of information management operations. For instance,the data agent 142 may take part in performing data storage operationssuch as the copying, archiving, migrating, replicating of primary data112 stored in the primary storage device(s) 104. The data agent 142 mayreceive control information from the storage manager 140, such ascommands to transfer copies of data objects, metadata, and other payloaddata to the media agents 144.

In some embodiments, a data agent 142 may be distributed between theclient computing device 102 and storage manager 140 (and any otherintermediate components) or may be deployed from a remote location orits functions approximated by a remote process that performs some or allof the functions of data agent 142. In addition, a data agent 142 mayperform some functions provided by a media agent 144, e.g., encryptionand deduplication.

As indicated, each data agent 142 may be specialized for a particularapplication 110, and the system can employ multiple data agents 142,each of which may backup, migrate, and recover data associated with adifferent application 110. For instance, different individual dataagents 142 may be designed to handle Microsoft Exchange data, LotusNotes data, Microsoft Windows file system data, Microsoft ActiveDirectory Objects data, SQL Server data, SharePoint data, Oracledatabase data, SAP database data, virtual machines and/or associateddata, and other types of data.

A file system data agent, for example, may handle data files and/orother file system information. If a client computing device 102 has twoor more types of data, one data agent 142 may be used for each data typeto copy, archive, migrate, and restore the client computing device 102data. For example, to backup, migrate, and restore all of the data on aMicrosoft Exchange server, the client computing device 102 may use oneMicrosoft Exchange Mailbox data agent 142 to backup the Exchangemailboxes, one Microsoft Exchange Database data agent 142 to backup theExchange databases, one Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data agent 142to backup the Exchange Public Folders, and one Microsoft Windows FileSystem data agent 142 to backup the file system of the client computingdevice 102. In such embodiments, these data agents 142 may be treated asfour separate data agents 142 by even though they reside on the sameclient computing device 102.

Other embodiments may employ one or more generic data agents 142 thatcan handle and process data from two or more different applications 110,or that can handle and process multiple data types, instead of or inaddition to using specialized data agents 142. For example, one genericdata agent 142 may be used to back up, migrate and restore MicrosoftExchange Mailbox data and Microsoft Exchange Database data while anothergeneric data agent may handle Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data andMicrosoft Windows File System data.

Each data agent 142 may be configured to access data and/or metadatastored in the primary storage device(s) 104 associated with the dataagent 142 and process the data as appropriate. For example, during asecondary copy operation, the data agent 142 may arrange or assemble thedata and metadata into one or more files having a certain format (e.g.,a particular backup or archive format) before transferring the file(s)to a media agent 144 or other component. The file(s) may include a listof files or other metadata. Each data agent 142 can also assist inrestoring data or metadata to primary storage devices 104 from asecondary copy 116. For instance, the data agent 142 may operate inconjunction with the storage manager 140 and one or more of the mediaagents 144 to restore data from secondary storage device(s) 108.

Media Agents

As indicated above with respect to FIG. 1A, off-loading certainresponsibilities from the client computing devices 102 to intermediarycomponents such as the media agent(s) 144 can provide a number ofbenefits including improved client computing device 102 operation,faster secondary copy operation performance, and enhanced scalability.As one specific example which will be discussed below in further detail,the media agent 144 can act as a local cache of copied data and/ormetadata that it has stored to the secondary storage device(s) 108,providing improved restore capabilities.

Generally speaking, a media agent 144 may be implemented as a softwaremodule that manages, coordinates, and facilitates the transmission ofdata, as directed by the storage manager 140, between a client computingdevice 102 and one or more secondary storage devices 108. Whereas thestorage manager 140 controls the operation of the information managementsystem 100, the media agent 144 generally provides a portal to secondarystorage devices 108.

Media agents 144 can comprise logically and/or physically separate nodesin the information management system 100 (e.g., separate from the clientcomputing devices 102, storage manager 140, and/or secondary storagedevices 108). In addition, each media agent 144 may reside on adedicated secondary storage computing device 106 in some cases, while inother embodiments a plurality of media agents 144 reside on the samesecondary storage computing device 106.

A media agent 144 (and corresponding media agent database 152) may beconsidered to be “associated with” a particular secondary storage device108 if that media agent 144 is capable of one or more of: routing and/orstoring data to the particular secondary storage device 108,coordinating the routing and/or storing of data to the particularsecondary storage device 108, retrieving data from the particularsecondary storage device 108, and coordinating the retrieval of datafrom a particular secondary storage device 108.

While media agent(s) 144 are generally associated with one or moresecondary storage devices 108, the media agents 144 in certainembodiments are physically separate from the secondary storage devices108. For instance, the media agents 144 may reside on secondary storagecomputing devices 106 having different housings or packages than thesecondary storage devices 108. In one example, a media agent 144 resideson a first server computer and is in communication with a secondarystorage device(s) 108 residing in a separate, rack-mounted RAID-basedsystem.

In operation, a media agent 144 associated with a particular secondarystorage device 108 may instruct the secondary storage device 108 (e.g.,a tape library) to use a robotic arm or other retrieval means to load oreject a certain storage media, and to subsequently archive, migrate, orretrieve data to or from that media, e.g., for the purpose of restoringthe data to a client computing device 102. The media agent 144 maycommunicate with a secondary storage device 108 via a suitablecommunications link, such as a SCSI or Fiber Channel link.

As shown, each media agent 144 may maintain an associated media agentdatabase 152. The media agent database 152 may be stored in a disk orother storage device (not shown) that is local to the secondary storagecomputing device 106 on which the media agent 144 resides. In othercases, the media agent database 152 is stored remotely from thesecondary storage computing device 106.

The media agent database 152 can include, among other things, an index153 including data generated during secondary copy operations and otherstorage or information management operations. The index 153 provides amedia agent 144 or other component with a fast and efficient mechanismfor locating secondary copies 116 or other data stored in the secondarystorage devices 108. In one configuration, a storage manager index 150or other data structure may store data associating a client computingdevice 102 with a particular media agent 144 and/or secondary storagedevice 108, as specified in a storage policy. A media agent index 153 orother data structure associated with the particular media agent 144 mayin turn include information about the stored data.

For instance, for each secondary copy 116, the index 153 may includemetadata such as a list of the data objects (e.g., files/subdirectories,database objects, mailbox objects, etc.), a path to the secondary copy116 on the corresponding secondary storage device 108, locationinformation indicating where the data objects are stored in thesecondary storage device 108, when the data objects were created ormodified, etc. Thus, the index 153 includes metadata associated with thesecondary copies 116 that is readily available for use in storageoperations and other activities without having to be first retrievedfrom the secondary storage device 108. In yet further embodiments, someor all of the data in the index 153 may instead or additionally bestored along with the data in a secondary storage device 108, e.g., witha copy of the index 153.

Because the index 153 maintained in the database 152 may operate as acache, it can also be referred to as an index cache. In such cases,information stored in the index cache 153 typically comprises data thatreflects certain particulars about storage operations that have occurredrelatively recently. After some triggering event, such as after acertain period of time elapses, or the index cache 153 reaches aparticular size, the index cache 153 may be copied or migrated to asecondary storage device(s) 108. This information may need to beretrieved and uploaded back into the index cache 153 or otherwiserestored to a media agent 144 to facilitate retrieval of data from thesecondary storage device(s) 108. In some embodiments, the cachedinformation may include format or containerization information relatedto archives or other files stored on the storage device(s) 108. In thismanner, the index cache 153 allows for accelerated restores.

In some alternative embodiments the media agent 144 generally acts as acoordinator or facilitator of storage operations between clientcomputing devices 102 and corresponding secondary storage devices 108,but does not actually write the data to the secondary storage device108. For instance, the storage manager 140 (or the media agent 144) mayinstruct a client computing device 102 and secondary storage device 108to communicate with one another directly. In such a case the clientcomputing device 102 transmits the data directly to the secondarystorage device 108 according to the received instructions, and viceversa. In some such cases, the media agent 144 may still receive,process, and/or maintain metadata related to the storage operations.Moreover, in these embodiments, the payload data can flow through themedia agent 144 for the purposes of populating the index cache 153maintained in the media agent database 152, but not for writing to thesecondary storage device 108.

The media agent 144 and/or other components such as the storage manager140 may in some cases incorporate additional functionality, such as dataclassification, content indexing, deduplication, encryption,compression, and the like. Further details regarding these and otherfunctions are described below.

Distributed, Scalable Architecture

As described, certain functions of the information management system 100can be distributed amongst various physical and/or logical components inthe system. For instance, one or more of the storage manager 140, dataagents 142, and media agents 144 may reside on computing devices thatare physically separate from one another. This architecture can providea number of benefits.

For instance, hardware and software design choices for each distributedcomponent can be targeted to suit its particular function. The secondarycomputing devices 106 on which the media agents 144 reside can betailored for interaction with associated secondary storage devices 108and provide fast index cache operation, among other specific tasks.Similarly, the client computing device(s) 102 can be selected toeffectively service the applications 110 residing thereon, in order toefficiently produce and store primary data 112.

Moreover, in some cases, one or more of the individual components in theinformation management system 100 can be distributed to multiple,separate computing devices. As one example, for large file systems wherethe amount of data stored in the storage management database 146 isrelatively large, the management database 146 may be migrated to orotherwise reside on a specialized database server (e.g., an SQL server)separate from a server that implements the other functions of thestorage manager 140. This configuration can provide added protectionbecause the database 146 can be protected with standard databaseutilities (e.g., SQL log shipping or database replication) independentfrom other functions of the storage manager 140. The database 146 can beefficiently replicated to a remote site for use in the event of adisaster or other data loss incident at the primary site. Or thedatabase 146 can be replicated to another computing device within thesame site, such as to a higher performance machine in the event that astorage manager host device can no longer service the needs of a growinginformation management system 100.

The distributed architecture also provides both scalability andefficient component utilization. FIG. 1D shows an embodiment of theinformation management system 100 including a plurality of clientcomputing devices 102 and associated data agents 142 as well as aplurality of secondary storage computing devices 106 and associatedmedia agents 144.

Additional components can be added or subtracted based on the evolvingneeds of the information management system 100. For instance, dependingon where bottlenecks are identified, administrators can add additionalclient computing devices 102, secondary storage devices 106 (andcorresponding media agents 144), and/or secondary storage devices 108.

Moreover, each client computing device 102 in some embodiments cancommunicate with any of the media agents 144, e.g., as directed by thestorage manager 140. And each media agent 144 may be able to communicatewith any of the secondary storage devices 108, e.g., as directed by thestorage manager 140. Thus, operations can be routed to the secondarystorage devices 108 in a dynamic and highly flexible manner. Furtherexamples of scalable systems capable of dynamic storage operations areprovided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, which is incorporated by referenceherein.

In alternative configurations, certain components are not distributedand may instead reside and execute on the same computing device. Forexample, in some embodiments one or more data agents 142 and the storagemanager 140 reside on the same client computing device 102. In anotherembodiment, one or more data agents 142 and one or more media agents 144reside on a single computing device.

Exemplary Types of Information Management Operations

In order to protect and leverage stored data, the information managementsystem 100 can be configured to perform a variety of informationmanagement operations. As will be described, these operations cangenerally include secondary copy and other data movement operations,processing and data manipulation operations, and management operations.

Data Movement Operations

Data movement operations according to certain embodiments are generallyoperations that involve the copying or migration of data (e.g., payloaddata) between different locations in the information management system100. For example, data movement operations can include operations inwhich stored data is copied, migrated, or otherwise transferred fromprimary storage device(s) 104 to secondary storage device(s) 108, fromsecondary storage device(s) 108 to different secondary storage device(s)108, or from primary storage device(s) 104 to different primary storagedevice(s) 104.

Data movement operations can include by way of example, backupoperations, archive operations, information lifecycle managementoperations such as hierarchical storage management operations,replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication operations),snapshot operations, deduplication operations, single-instancingoperations, auxiliary copy operations, and the like. As will bediscussed, some of these operations involve the copying, migration orother movement of data, without actually creating multiple, distinctcopies. Nonetheless, some or all of these operations are referred to as“copy” operations for simplicity.

Backup Operations

A backup operation creates a copy of primary data 112 at a particularpoint in time. Each subsequent backup copy may be maintainedindependently of the first. Further, a backup copy in some embodimentsis stored in a backup format. This can be in contrast to the version inprimary data 112 from which the backup copy is derived, and which mayinstead be stored in a native format of the source application(s) 110.In various cases, backup copies can be stored in a format in which thedata is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modifiedfrom the original application format. For example, a backup copy may bestored in a backup format that facilitates compression and/or efficientlong-term storage.

Backup copies can have relatively long retention periods as compared toprimary data 112, and may be stored on media with slower retrieval timesthan primary data 112 and certain other types of secondary copies 116.On the other hand, backups may have relatively shorter retention periodsthan some other types of secondary copies 116, such as archive copies(described below). Backups may sometimes be stored at on offsitelocation.

Backup operations can include full, synthetic or incremental backups. Afull backup in some embodiments is generally a complete image of thedata to be protected. However, because full backup copies can consume arelatively large amount of storage, it can be useful to use a fullbackup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the fullbackup copy for subsequent backup copies.

For instance, a differential backup operation (or cumulative incrementalbackup operation) tracks and stores changes that have occurred since thelast full backup. Differential backups can grow quickly in size, but canprovide relatively efficient restore times because a restore can becompleted in some cases using only the full backup copy and the latestdifferential copy.

An incremental backup operation generally tracks and stores changessince the most recent backup copy of any type, which can greatly reducestorage utilization. In some cases, however, restore times can berelatively long in comparison to full or differential backups becausecompleting a restore operation may involve accessing a full backup inaddition to multiple incremental backups.

Any of the above types of backup operations can be at the file-level,e.g., where the information management system 100 generally trackschanges to files at the file-level, and includes copies of files in thebackup copy. In other cases, block-level backups are employed, wherefiles are broken into constituent blocks, and changes are tracked at theblock-level. Upon restore, the information management system 100reassembles the blocks into files in a transparent fashion.

Far less data may actually be transferred and copied to the secondarystorage devices 108 during a block-level copy than during a file-levelcopy, resulting in faster execution times. However, when restoring ablock-level copy, the process of locating constituent blocks cansometimes result in longer restore times as compared to file-levelbackups. Similar to backup operations, the other types of secondary copyoperations described herein can also be implemented at either thefile-level or the block-level.

Archive Operations

Because backup operations generally involve maintaining a version of thecopied data in primary data 112 and also maintaining backup copies insecondary storage device(s) 108, they can consume significant storagecapacity. To help reduce storage consumption, an archive operationaccording to certain embodiments creates a secondary copy 116 by bothcopying and removing source data. Or, seen another way, archiveoperations can involve moving some or all of the source data to thearchive destination. Thus, data satisfying criteria for removal (e.g.,data of a threshold age or size) from the source copy may be removedfrom source storage. Archive copies are sometimes stored in an archiveformat or other non-native application format. The source data may beprimary data 112 or a secondary copy 116, depending on the situation. Aswith backup copies, archive copies can be stored in a format in whichthe data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwisemodified from the original application format.

In addition, archive copies may be retained for relatively long periodsof time (e.g., years) and, in some cases, are never deleted. Archivecopies are generally retained for longer periods of time than backupcopies, for example. In certain embodiments, archive copies may be madeand kept for extended periods in order to meet compliance regulations.

Moreover, when primary data 112 is archived, in some cases the archivedprimary data 112 or a portion thereof is deleted when creating thearchive copy. Thus, archiving can serve the purpose of freeing up spacein the primary storage device(s) 104. Similarly, when a secondary copy116 is archived, the secondary copy 116 may be deleted, and an archivecopy can therefore serve the purpose of freeing up space in secondarystorage device(s) 108. In contrast, source copies often remain intactwhen creating backup copies.

Snapshot Operations

Snapshot operations can provide a relatively lightweight, efficientmechanism for protecting data. From an end-user viewpoint, a snapshotmay be thought of as an “instant” image of the primary data 112 at agiven point in time. In one embodiment, a snapshot may generally capturethe directory structure of an object in primary data 112 such as a fileor volume or other data set at a particular moment in time and may alsopreserve file attributes and contents. A snapshot in some cases iscreated relatively quickly, e.g., substantially instantly, using aminimum amount of file space, but may still function as a conventionalfile system backup.

A snapshot copy in many cases can be made quickly and withoutsignificantly impacting primary computing resources because largeamounts of data need not be copied or moved. In some embodiments, asnapshot may exist as a virtual file system, parallel to the actual filesystem. Users in some cases gain read-only access to the record of filesand directories of the snapshot. By electing to restore primary data 112from a snapshot taken at a given point in time, users may also returnthe current file system to the state of the file system that existedwhen the snapshot was taken.

Some types of snapshots do not actually create another physical copy ofall the data as it existed at the particular point in time, but maysimply create pointers that are able to map files and directories tospecific memory locations (e.g., disk blocks) where the data resides, asit existed at the particular point in time. For example, a snapshot copymay include a set of pointers derived from the file system or anapplication. Each pointer points to a respective stored data block, socollectively, the set of pointers reflect the storage location and stateof the data object (e.g., file(s) or volume(s) or data set(s)) at aparticular point in time when the snapshot copy was created.

In some embodiments, once a snapshot has been taken, subsequent changesto the file system typically do not overwrite the blocks in use at thetime of the snapshot. Therefore, the initial snapshot may use only asmall amount of disk space needed to record a mapping or other datastructure representing or otherwise tracking the blocks that correspondto the current state of the file system. Additional disk space isusually required only when files and directories are actually modifiedlater. Furthermore, when files are modified, typically only the pointerswhich map to blocks are copied, not the blocks themselves. In someembodiments, for example in the case of “copy-on-write” snapshots, whena block changes in primary storage, the block is copied to secondarystorage or cached in primary storage before the block is overwritten inprimary storage. The snapshot mapping of file system data is alsoupdated to reflect the changed block(s) at that particular point intime. In some other cases, a snapshot includes a full physical copy ofall or substantially all of the data represented by the snapshot.Further examples of snapshot operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No.7,529,782, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Replication Operations

Another type of secondary copy operation is a replication operation.Some types of secondary copies 116 are used to periodically captureimages of primary data 112 at particular points in time (e.g., backups,archives, and snapshots). However, it can also be useful for recoverypurposes to protect primary data 112 in a more continuous fashion, byreplicating the primary data 112 substantially as changes occur. In somecases a replication copy can be a mirror copy, for instance, wherechanges made to primary data 112 are mirrored to another location (e.g.,to secondary storage device(s) 108). By copying each write operation tothe replication copy, two storage systems are kept synchronized orsubstantially synchronized so that they are virtually identical atapproximately the same time. Where entire disk volumes are mirrored,however, mirroring can require significant amount of storage space andutilizes a large amount of processing resources.

According to some embodiments storage operations are performed onreplicated data that represents a recoverable state, or “known goodstate” of a particular application running on the source system. Forinstance, in certain embodiments, known good replication copies may beviewed as copies of primary data 112. This feature allows the system todirectly access, copy, restore, backup or otherwise manipulate thereplication copies as if the data was the “live”, primary data 112. Thiscan reduce access time, storage utilization, and impact on sourceapplications 110, among other benefits.

Based on known good state information, the information management system100 can replicate sections of application data that represent arecoverable state rather than rote copying of blocks of data. Examplesof compatible replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication)are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, which is incorporated byreference herein.

Deduplication/Single-Instancing Operations

Another type of data movement operation is deduplication, which isuseful to reduce the amount of data within the system. For instance,some or all of the above-described secondary storage operations caninvolve deduplication in some fashion. New data is read, broken downinto blocks (e.g., sub-file level blocks) of a selected granularity,compared with blocks that are already stored, and only the new blocksare stored. Blocks that already exist are represented as pointers to thealready stored data.

In order to stream-line the comparison process, the informationmanagement system 100 may calculate and/or store signatures (e.g.,hashes) corresponding to the individual data blocks and compare thehashes instead of comparing entire data blocks. In some cases, only asingle instance of each element is stored, and deduplication operationsmay therefore be referred to interchangeably as “single-instancing”operations. Depending on the implementation, however, deduplication orsingle-instancing operations can store more than one instance of certaindata blocks, but nonetheless significantly reduce data redundancy.Moreover, single-instancing in some cases is distinguished fromdeduplication as a process of analyzing and reducing data at the filelevel, rather than the sub-file level.

Depending on the embodiment, deduplication blocks can be of fixed orvariable length. Using variable length blocks can provide enhanceddeduplication by responding to changes in the data stream, but caninvolve complex processing. In some cases, the information managementsystem 100 utilizes a technique for dynamically aligning deduplicationblocks (e.g., fixed-length blocks) based on changing content in the datastream, as described in U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0084268, which isincorporated by reference herein.

The information management system 100 can perform deduplication in avariety of manners at a variety of locations in the informationmanagement system 100. For instance, in some embodiments, theinformation management system 100 implements “target-side” deduplicationby deduplicating data (e.g., secondary copies 116) stored in thesecondary storage devices 108. In some such cases, the media agents 144are generally configured to manage the deduplication process. Forinstance, one or more of the media agents 144 maintain a correspondingdeduplication database that stores deduplication information (e.g.,datablock signatures). Examples of such a configuration are provided inU.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150826, which is incorporated by referenceherein. Deduplication can also be performed on the “source-side” (or“client-side”), e.g., to reduce the amount of traffic between the mediaagents 144 and the client computing device(s) 102 and/or reduceredundant data stored in the primary storage devices 104. Examples ofsuch deduplication techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. Pub. No.2012/0150818, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Information Lifecycle Management and Hierarchical Storage ManagementOperations

In some embodiments, files and other data over their lifetime move frommore expensive, quick access storage to less expensive, slower accessstorage. Operations associated with moving data through various tiers ofstorage are sometimes referred to as information lifecycle management(ILM) operations.

One type of ILM operation is a hierarchical storage management (HSM)operation. A HSM operation is generally an operation for automaticallymoving data between classes of storage devices, such as betweenhigh-cost and low-cost storage devices. For instance, an HSM operationmay involve movement of data from primary storage devices 104 tosecondary storage devices 108, or between tiers of secondary storagedevices 108. With each tier, the storage devices may be progressivelyrelatively cheaper, have relatively slower access/restore times, etc.For example, movement of data between tiers may occur as data becomesless important over time.

In some embodiments, an HSM operation is similar to an archive operationin that creating an HSM copy may (though not always) involve deletingsome of the source data. For example, an HSM copy may include data fromprimary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 that is larger than a givensize threshold or older than a given age threshold and that is stored ina backup format.

Often, and unlike some types of archive copies, HSM data that is removedor aged from the source copy is replaced by a logical reference pointeror stub. The reference pointer or stub can be stored in the primarystorage device 104 to replace the deleted data in primary data 112 (orother source copy) and to point to or otherwise indicate the newlocation in a secondary storage device 108.

According to one example, files are generally moved between higher andlower cost storage depending on how often the files are accessed. When auser requests access to the HSM data that has been removed or migrated,the information management system 100 uses the stub to locate the dataand often make recovery of the data appear transparent, even though theHSM data may be stored at a location different from the remaining sourcedata. The stub may also include some metadata associated with thecorresponding data, so that a file system and/or application can providesome information about the data object and/or a limited-functionalityversion (e.g., a preview) of the data object.

An HSM copy may be stored in a format other than the native applicationformat (e.g., where the data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated,and/or otherwise modified from the original application format). In somecases, copies which involve the removal of data from source storage andthe maintenance of stub or other logical reference information on sourcestorage may be referred to generally as “on-line archive copies”. On theother hand, copies which involve the removal of data from source storagewithout the maintenance of stub or other logical reference informationon source storage may be referred to as “off-line archive copies”.

Auxiliary Copy and Disaster Recovery Operations

An auxiliary copy is generally a copy operation in which a copy iscreated of an existing secondary copy 116. For instance, an initial or“primary” secondary copy 116 may be generated using or otherwise bederived from primary data 112, whereas an auxiliary copy is generatedfrom the initial secondary copy 116. Auxiliary copies can be used tocreate additional standby copies of data and may reside on differentsecondary storage devices 108 than initial secondary copies 116. Thus,auxiliary copies can be used for recovery purposes if initial secondarycopies 116 become unavailable. Exemplary compatible auxiliary copytechniques are described in further detail in U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195,which is incorporated by reference herein.

The information management system 100 may also perform disaster recoveryoperations that make or retain disaster recovery copies, often assecondary, high-availability disk copies. The information managementsystem 100 may create secondary disk copies and store the copies atdisaster recovery locations using auxiliary copy or replicationoperations, such as continuous data replication technologies. Dependingon the particular data protection goals, disaster recovery locations canbe remote from the client computing devices 102 and primary storagedevices 104, remote from some or all of the secondary storage devices108, or both.

Data Processing and Manipulation Operations

As indicated, the information management system 100 can also beconfigured to implement certain data manipulation operations, whichaccording to certain embodiments are generally operations involving theprocessing or modification of stored data. Some data manipulationoperations include content indexing operations and classificationoperations can be useful in leveraging the data under management toprovide enhanced search and other features. Other data manipulationoperations such as compression and encryption can provide data reductionand security benefits, respectively.

Data manipulation operations can be different than data movementoperations in that they do not necessarily involve the copying,migration or other transfer of data (e.g., primary data 112 or secondarycopies 116) between different locations in the system. For instance,data manipulation operations may involve processing (e.g., offlineprocessing) or modification of already stored primary data 112 and/orsecondary copies 116. However, in some embodiments data manipulationoperations are performed in conjunction with data movement operations.As one example, the information management system 100 may encrypt datawhile performing an archive operation.

Content Indexing

In some embodiments, the information management system 100 “contentindexes” data stored within the primary data 112 and/or secondary copies116, providing enhanced search capabilities for data discovery and otherpurposes. The content indexing can be used to identify files or otherdata objects having pre-defined content (e.g., user-defined keywords orphrases), metadata (e.g., email metadata such as “to”, “from”, “cc”,“bcc”, attachment name, received time, etc.).

The information management system 100 generally organizes and cataloguesthe results in a content index, which may be stored within the mediaagent database 152, for example. The content index can also include thestorage locations of (or pointer references to) the indexed data in theprimary data 112 or secondary copies 116, as appropriate. The resultsmay also be stored, in the form of a content index database orotherwise, elsewhere in the information management system 100 (e.g., inthe primary storage devices 104, or in the secondary storage device108). Such index data provides the storage manager 140 or anothercomponent with an efficient mechanism for locating primary data 112and/or secondary copies 116 of data objects that match particularcriteria.

For instance, search criteria can be specified by a user through userinterface 158 of the storage manager 140. In some cases, the informationmanagement system 100 analyzes data and/or metadata in secondary copies116 to create an “off-line” content index, without significantlyimpacting the performance of the client computing devices 102. Dependingon the embodiment, the system can also implement “on-line” contentindexing, e.g., of primary data 112. Examples of compatible contentindexing techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, which isincorporated by reference herein.

Classification Operations—Metabase

In order to help leverage the data stored in the information managementsystem 100, one or more components can be configured to scan data and/orassociated metadata for classification purposes to populate a metabaseof information. Such scanned, classified data and/or metadata may beincluded in a separate database and/or on a separate storage device fromprimary data 112 (and/or secondary copies 116), such that metabaserelated operations do not significantly impact performance on othercomponents in the information management system 100.

In other cases, the metabase(s) may be stored along with primary data112 and/or secondary copies 116. Files or other data objects can beassociated with user-specified identifiers (e.g., tag entries) in themedia agent 144 (or other indices) to facilitate searches of stored dataobjects. Among a number of other benefits, the metabase can also allowefficient, automatic identification of files or other data objects toassociate with secondary copy or other information management operations(e.g., in lieu of scanning an entire file system). Examples ofcompatible metabases and data classification operations are provided inU.S. Pat. Nos. 8,229,954 and 7,747,579, which are incorporated byreference herein.

Encryption Operations

The information management system 100 in some cases is configured toprocess data (e.g., files or other data objects, secondary copies 116,etc.), according to an appropriate encryption algorithm (e.g., Blowfish,Advanced Encryption Standard [AES], Triple Data Encryption Standard[3-DES], etc.) to limit access and provide data security in theinformation management system 100.

The information management system 100 in some cases encrypts the data atthe client level, such that the client computing devices 102 (e.g., thedata agents 142) encrypt the data prior to forwarding the data to othercomponents, e.g., before sending the data media agents 144 during asecondary copy operation. In such cases, the client computing device 102may maintain or have access to an encryption key or passphrase fordecrypting the data upon restore. Encryption can also occur whencreating copies of secondary copies, e.g., when creating auxiliarycopies. In yet further embodiments, the secondary storage devices 108can implement built-in, high performance hardware encryption.

Management Operations

Certain embodiments leverage the integrated, ubiquitous nature of theinformation management system 100 to provide useful system-widemanagement functions. As two non-limiting examples, the informationmanagement system 100 can be configured to implement operationsmanagement and e-discovery functions.

Operations management can generally include monitoring and managing thehealth and performance of information management system 100 by, withoutlimitation, performing error tracking, generating granularstorage/performance metrics (e.g., job success/failure information,deduplication efficiency, etc.), generating storage modeling and costinginformation, and the like.

Such information can be provided to users via the user interface 158 ina single, integrated view. For instance, the integrated user interface158 can include an option to show a “virtual view” of the system thatgraphically depicts the various components in the system usingappropriate icons. The operations management functionality canfacilitate planning and decision-making. For example, in someembodiments, a user may view the status of some or all jobs as well asthe status of each component of the information management system 100.Users may then plan and make decisions based on this data. For instance,a user may view high-level information regarding storage operations forthe information management system 100, such as job status, componentstatus, resource status (e.g., network pathways, etc.), and otherinformation. The user may also drill down or use other means to obtainmore detailed information regarding a particular component, job, or thelike.

In some cases the information management system 100 alerts a user suchas a system administrator when a particular resource is unavailable orcongested. For example, a particular primary storage device 104 orsecondary storage device 108 might be full or require additionalcapacity. Or a component may be unavailable due to hardware failure,software problems, or other reasons. In response, the informationmanagement system 100 may suggest solutions to such problems when theyoccur (or provide a warning prior to occurrence). For example, thestorage manager 140 may alert the user that a secondary storage device108 is full or otherwise congested. The storage manager 140 may thensuggest, based on job and data storage information contained in itsdatabase 146, an alternate secondary storage device 108.

Other types of corrective actions may include suggesting an alternatedata path to a particular primary or secondary storage device 104, 108,or dividing data to be stored among various available primary orsecondary storage devices 104, 108 as a load balancing measure or tootherwise optimize storage or retrieval time. Such suggestions orcorrective actions may be performed automatically, if desired. Furtherexamples of some compatible operations management techniques and ofinterfaces providing an integrated view of an information managementsystem are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, which is incorporated byreference herein. In some embodiments, the storage manager 140implements the operations management functions described herein.

The information management system 100 can also be configured to performsystem-wide e-discovery operations in some embodiments. In general,e-discovery operations provide a unified collection and searchcapability for data in the system, such as data stored in the secondarystorage devices 108 (e.g., backups, archives, or other secondary copies116). For example, the information management system 100 may constructand maintain a virtual repository for data stored in the informationmanagement system 100 that is integrated across source applications 110,different storage device types, etc. According to some embodiments,e-discovery utilizes other techniques described herein, such as dataclassification and/or content indexing.

Information Management Policies

As indicated previously, an information management policy 148 caninclude a data structure or other information source that specifies aset of parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with secondarycopy or other information management operations.

One type of information management policy 148 is a storage policy.According to certain embodiments, a storage policy generally comprises alogical container that defines (or includes information sufficient todetermine) one or more of the following items: (1) what data will beassociated with the storage policy; (2) a destination to which the datawill be stored; (3) datapath information specifying how the data will becommunicated to the destination; (4) the type of storage operation to beperformed; and (5) retention information specifying how long the datawill be retained at the destination.

Data associated with a storage policy can be logically organized intogroups, which can be referred to as “sub-clients”. A sub-client mayrepresent static or dynamic associations of portions of a data volume.Sub-clients may represent mutually exclusive portions. Thus, in certainembodiments, a portion of data may be given a label and the associationis stored as a static entity in an index, database or other storagelocation.

Sub-clients may also be used as an effective administrative scheme oforganizing data according to data type, department within theenterprise, storage preferences, or the like. Depending on theconfiguration, sub-clients can correspond to files, folders, virtualmachines, databases, etc. In one exemplary scenario, an administratormay find it preferable to separate e-mail data from financial data usingtwo different sub-clients.

A storage policy can define where data is stored by specifying a targetor destination storage device (or group of storage devices). Forinstance, where the secondary storage device 108 includes a group ofdisk libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular disk libraryfor storing the sub-clients associated with the policy. As anotherexample, where the secondary storage devices 108 include one or moretape libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular tape libraryfor storing the sub-clients associated with the storage policy, and mayalso specify a drive pool and a tape pool defining a group of tapedrives and a group of tapes, respectively, for use in storing thesub-client data.

Datapath information can also be included in the storage policy. Forinstance, the storage policy may specify network pathways and componentsto utilize when moving the data to the destination storage device(s). Insome embodiments, the storage policy specifies one or more media agents144 for conveying data (e.g., one or more sub-clients) associated withthe storage policy between the source (e.g., one or more host clientcomputing devices 102) and destination (e.g., a particular targetsecondary storage device 108).

A storage policy can also specify the type(s) of operations associatedwith the storage policy, such as a backup, archive, snapshot, auxiliarycopy, or the like. Retention information can specify how long the datawill be kept, depending on organizational needs (e.g., a number of days,months, years, etc.)

The information management policies 148 may also include one or morescheduling policies specifying when and how often to perform operations.Scheduling information may specify with what frequency (e.g., hourly,weekly, daily, event-based, etc.) or under what triggering conditionssecondary copy or other information management operations will takeplace. Scheduling policies in some cases are associated with particularcomponents, such as particular sub-clients, client computing device 102,and the like. In one configuration, a separate scheduling policy ismaintained for particular sub-clients on a client computing device 102.The scheduling policy specifies that those sub-clients are to be movedto secondary storage devices 108 every hour according to storagepolicies associated with the respective sub-clients.

When adding a new client computing device 102, administrators canmanually configure information management policies 148 and/or othersettings, e.g., via the user interface 158. However, this can be aninvolved process resulting in delays, and it may be desirable to begindata protecting operations quickly.

Thus, in some embodiments, the information management system 100automatically applies a default configuration to client computing device102. As one example, when a data agent(s) 142 is installed on a clientcomputing devices 102, the installation script may register the clientcomputing device 102 with the storage manager 140, which in turn appliesthe default configuration to the new client computing device 102. Inthis manner, data protection operations can begin substantiallyimmediately. The default configuration can include a default storagepolicy, for example, and can specify any appropriate informationsufficient to begin data protection operations. This can include a typeof data protection operation, scheduling information, a target secondarystorage device 108, data path information (e.g., a particular mediaagent 144), and the like.

Other types of information management policies 148 are possible. Forinstance, the information management policies 148 can also include oneor more audit or security policies. An audit policy is a set ofpreferences, rules and/or criteria that protect sensitive data in theinformation management system 100. For example, an audit policy maydefine “sensitive objects” as files or objects that contain particularkeywords (e.g. “confidential,” or “privileged”) and/or are associatedwith particular keywords (e.g., in metadata) or particular flags (e.g.,in metadata identifying a document or email as personal, confidential,etc.).

An audit policy may further specify rules for handling sensitiveobjects. As an example, an audit policy may require that a reviewerapprove the transfer of any sensitive objects to a cloud storage site,and that if approval is denied for a particular sensitive object, thesensitive object should be transferred to a local storage device 104instead. To facilitate this approval, the audit policy may furtherspecify how a secondary storage computing device 106 or other systemcomponent should notify a reviewer that a sensitive object is slated fortransfer.

In some implementations, the information management policies 148 mayinclude one or more provisioning policies. A provisioning policy caninclude a set of preferences, priorities, rules, and/or criteria thatspecify how clients 102 (or groups thereof) may utilize systemresources, such as available storage on cloud storage and/or networkbandwidth. A provisioning policy specifies, for example, data quotas forparticular client computing devices 102 (e.g. a number of gigabytes thatcan be stored monthly, quarterly or annually). The storage manager 140or other components may enforce the provisioning policy. For instance,the media agents 144 may enforce the policy when transferring data tosecondary storage devices 108. If a client computing device 102 exceedsa quota, a budget for the client computing device 102 (or associateddepartment) is adjusted accordingly or an alert may trigger.

While the above types of information management policies 148 have beendescribed as separate policies, one or more of these can be generallycombined into a single information management policy 148. For instance,a storage policy may also include or otherwise be associated with one ormore scheduling, audit, or provisioning policies. Moreover, whilestorage policies are typically associated with moving and storing data,other policies may be associated with other types of informationmanagement operations. The following is a non-exhaustive list of itemsthe information management policies 148 may specify:

-   -   schedules or other timing information, e.g., specifying when        and/or how often to perform information management operations;    -   the type of secondary copy 116 and/or secondary copy format        (e.g., snapshot, backup, archive, HSM, etc.);    -   a location or a class or quality of storage for storing        secondary copies 116 (e.g., one or more particular secondary        storage devices 108);    -   preferences regarding whether and how to encrypt, compress,        deduplicate, or otherwise modify or transform secondary copies        116;    -   which system components and/or network pathways (e.g., preferred        media agents 144) should be used to perform secondary storage        operations;    -   resource allocation between different computing devices or other        system components used in performing information management        operations (e.g., bandwidth allocation, available storage        capacity, etc.);    -   whether and how to synchronize or otherwise distribute files or        other data objects across multiple computing devices or hosted        services; and    -   retention information specifying the length of time primary data        112 and/or secondary copies 116 should be retained, e.g., in a        particular class or tier of storage devices, or within the        information management system 100.

Policies can additionally specify or depend on a variety of historicalor current criteria that may be used to determine which rules to applyto a particular data object, system component, or information managementoperation, such as:

-   -   frequency with which primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 of        a data object or metadata has been or is predicted to be used,        accessed, or modified;    -   time-related factors (e.g., aging information such as time since        the creation or modification of a data object);    -   deduplication information (e.g., hashes, data blocks,        deduplication block size, deduplication efficiency or other        metrics);    -   an estimated or historic usage or cost associated with different        components (e.g., with secondary storage devices 108);    -   the identity of users, applications 110, client computing        devices 102 and/or other computing devices that created,        accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or        secondary copies 116;    -   a relative sensitivity (e.g., confidentiality) of a data object,        e.g., as determined by its content and/or metadata;    -   the current or historical storage capacity of various storage        devices;    -   the current or historical network capacity of network pathways        connecting various components within the storage operation cell;    -   access control lists or other security information; and    -   the content of a particular data object (e.g., its textual        content) or of metadata associated with the data object.

Exemplary Storage Policy and Secondary Storage Operations

FIG. 1E shows a data flow data diagram depicting performance of storageoperations by an embodiment of an information management system 100,according to an exemplary data storage policy 148A. The informationmanagement system 100 includes a storage manger 140, a client computingdevice 102 having a file system data agent 142A and an email data agent142B residing thereon, a primary storage device 104, two media agents144A, 144B, and two secondary storage devices 108A, 1088: a disk library108A and a tape library 1088. As shown, the primary storage device 104includes primary data 112A, 1128 associated with a file systemsub-client and an email sub-client, respectively.

As indicated by the dashed box, the second media agent 144B and the tapelibrary 1088 are “off-site”, and may therefore be remotely located fromthe other components in the information management system 100 (e.g., ina different city, office building, etc.). In this manner, informationstored on the tape library 108B may provide protection in the event of adisaster or other failure.

The file system sub-client and its associated primary data 112A incertain embodiments generally comprise information generated by the filesystem and/or operating system of the client computing device 102, andcan include, for example, file system data (e.g., regular files, filetables, mount points, etc.), operating system data (e.g., registries,event logs, etc.), and the like. The e-mail sub-client, on the otherhand, and its associated primary data 1128, include data generated by ane-mail client application operating on the client computing device 102,and can include mailbox information, folder information, emails,attachments, associated database information, and the like. As describedabove, the sub-clients can be logical containers, and the data includedin the corresponding primary data 112A, 1128 may or may not be storedcontiguously.

The exemplary storage policy 148A includes a backup copy rule set 160, adisaster recovery copy rule set 162, and a compliance copy rule set 164.The backup copy rule set 160 specifies that it is associated with a filesystem sub-client 166 and an email sub-client 168. Each of thesesub-clients 166, 168 are associated with the particular client computingdevice 102. The backup copy rule set 160 further specifies that thebackup operation will be written to the disk library 108A, anddesignates a particular media agent 144A to convey the data to the disklibrary 108A. Finally, the backup copy rule set 160 specifies thatbackup copies created according to the rule set 160 are scheduled to begenerated on an hourly basis and to be retained for 30 days. In someother embodiments, scheduling information is not included in the storagepolicy 148A, and is instead specified by a separate scheduling policy.

The disaster recovery copy rule set 162 is associated with the same twosub-clients 166, 168. However, the disaster recovery copy rule set 162is associated with the tape library 108B, unlike the backup copy ruleset 160. Moreover, the disaster recovery copy rule set 162 specifiesthat a different media agent 144B than the media agent 144A associatedwith the backup copy rule set 160 will be used to convey the data to thetape library 1088. As indicated, disaster recovery copies createdaccording to the rule set 162 will be retained for 60 days, and will begenerated on a daily basis. Disaster recovery copies generated accordingto the disaster recovery copy rule set 162 can provide protection in theevent of a disaster or other data-loss event that would affect thebackup copy 116A maintained on the disk library 108A.

The compliance copy rule set 164 is only associated with the emailsub-client 166, and not the file system sub-client 168. Compliancecopies generated according to the compliance copy rule set 164 willtherefore not include primary data 112A from the file system sub-client166. For instance, the organization may be under an obligation to storemaintain copies of email data for a particular period of time (e.g., 10years) to comply with state or federal regulations, while similarregulations do not apply to the file system data. The compliance copyrule set 164 is associated with the same tape library 108B and mediaagent 144B as the disaster recovery copy rule set 162, although adifferent storage device or media agent could be used in otherembodiments. Finally, the compliance copy rule set 164 specifies thatcopies generated under the compliance copy rule set 164 will be retainedfor 10 years, and will be generated on a quarterly basis.

At step 1, the storage manager 140 initiates a backup operationaccording to the backup copy rule set 160. For instance, a schedulingservice running on the storage manager 140 accesses schedulinginformation from the backup copy rule set 160 or a separate schedulingpolicy associated with the client computing device 102, and initiates abackup copy operation on an hourly basis. Thus, at the scheduled timeslot the storage manager 140 sends instructions to the client computingdevice 102 to begin the backup operation.

At step 2, the file system data agent 142A and the email data agent 142Bresiding on the client computing device 102 respond to the instructionsreceived from the storage manager 140 by accessing and processing theprimary data 112A, 112B involved in the copy operation from the primarystorage device 104. Because the operation is a backup copy operation,the data agent(s) 142A, 142B may format the data into a backup format orotherwise process the data.

At step 3, the client computing device 102 communicates the retrieved,processed data to the first media agent 144A, as directed by the storagemanager 140, according to the backup copy rule set 160. In some otherembodiments, the information management system 100 may implement aload-balancing, availability-based, or other appropriate algorithm toselect from the available set of media agents 144A, 144B. Regardless ofthe manner the media agent 144A is selected, the storage manager 140 mayfurther keep a record in the storage manager database 140 of theassociation between the selected media agent 144A and the clientcomputing device 102 and/or between the selected media agent 144A andthe backup copy 116A.

The target media agent 144A receives the data from the client computingdevice 102, and at step 4 conveys the data to the disk library 108A tocreate the backup copy 116A, again at the direction of the storagemanager 140 and according to the backup copy rule set 160. The secondarystorage device 108A can be selected in other ways. For instance, themedia agent 144A may have a dedicated association with a particularsecondary storage device(s), or the storage manager 140 or media agent144A may select from a plurality of secondary storage devices, e.g.,according to availability, using one of the techniques described in U.S.Pat. No. 7,246,207, which is incorporated by reference herein.

The media agent 144A can also update its index 153 to include dataand/or metadata related to the backup copy 116A, such as informationindicating where the backup copy 116A resides on the disk library 108A,data and metadata for cache retrieval, etc. After the 30 day retentionperiod expires, the storage manager 140 instructs the media agent 144Ato delete the backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A.

At step 5, the storage manager 140 initiates the creation of a disasterrecovery copy 1168 according to the disaster recovery copy rule set 162.For instance, at step 6, based on instructions received from the storagemanager 140 at step 5, the specified media agent 144B retrieves the mostrecent backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A.

At step 7, again at the direction of the storage manager 140 and asspecified in the disaster recovery copy rule set 162, the media agent144B uses the retrieved data to create a disaster recovery copy 1168 onthe tape library 1088. In some cases, the disaster recovery copy 1168 isa direct, mirror copy of the backup copy 116A, and remains in the backupformat. In other embodiments, the disaster recovery copy 116C may begenerated in some other manner, such as by using the primary data 112A,1128 from the storage device 104 as source data. The disaster recoverycopy operation is initiated once a day and the disaster recovery copies116A are deleted after 60 days.

At step 8, the storage manager 140 initiates the creation of acompliance copy 116C, according to the compliance copy rule set 164. Forinstance, the storage manager 140 instructs the media agent 144B tocreate the compliance copy 116C on the tape library 1088 at step 9, asspecified in the compliance copy rule set 164. In the example, thecompliance copy 116C is generated using the disaster recovery copy 1168.In other embodiments, the compliance copy 116C is instead generatedusing either the primary data 1128 corresponding to the email sub-clientor using the backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A as source data.As specified, compliance copies 116C are created quarterly, and aredeleted after ten years.

While not shown in FIG. 1E, at some later point in time, a restoreoperation can be initiated involving one or more of the secondary copies116A, 116B, 116C. As one example, a user may manually initiate a restoreof the backup copy 116A by interacting with the user interface 158 ofthe storage manager 140. The storage manager 140 then accesses data inits index 150 (and/or the respective storage policy 148A) associatedwith the selected backup copy 116A to identify the appropriate mediaagent 144A and/or secondary storage device 116A.

In other cases, a media agent may be selected for use in the restoreoperation based on a load balancing algorithm, an availability basedalgorithm, or other criteria. The selected media agent 144A retrievesthe data from the disk library 108A. For instance, the media agent 144Amay access its index 153 to identify a location of the backup copy 116Aon the disk library 108A, or may access location information residing onthe disk 108A itself.

When the backup copy 116A was recently created or accessed, the mediaagent 144A accesses a cached version of the backup copy 116A residing inthe media agent index 153, without having to access the disk library108A for some or all of the data. Once it has retrieved the backup copy116A, the media agent 144A communicates the data to the source clientcomputing device 102. Upon receipt, the file system data agent 142A andthe email data agent 142B may unpackage (e.g., restore from a backupformat to the native application format) the data in the backup copy116A and restore the unpackaged data to the primary storage device 104.

Exemplary Secondary Copy Formatting

The formatting and structure of secondary copies 116 can vary, dependingon the embodiment. In some cases, secondary copies 116 are formatted asa series of logical data units or “chunks” (e.g., 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4GB, or 8 GB chunks). This can facilitate efficient communication andwriting to secondary storage devices 108, e.g., according to resourceavailability. For example, a single secondary copy 116 may be written ona chunk-by-chunk basis to a single secondary storage device 108 oracross multiple secondary storage devices 108. In some cases, users canselect different chunk sizes, e.g., to improve throughput to tapestorage devices.

Generally, each chunk can include a header and a payload. The payloadcan include files (or other data units) or subsets thereof included inthe chunk, whereas the chunk header generally includes metadata relatingto the chunk, some or all of which may be derived from the payload. Forexample, during a secondary copy operation, the media agent 144, storagemanager 140, or other component may divide the associated files intochunks and generate headers for each chunk by processing the constituentfiles.

The headers can include a variety of information such as fileidentifier(s), volume(s), offset(s), or other information associatedwith the payload data items, a chunk sequence number, etc. Importantly,in addition to being stored with the secondary copy 116 on the secondarystorage device 108, the chunk headers can also be stored to the index153 of the associated media agent(s) 144 and/or the storage managerindex 150. This is useful in some cases for providing faster processingof secondary copies 116 during restores or other operations. In somecases, once a chunk is successfully transferred to a secondary storagedevice 108, the secondary storage device 108 returns an indication ofreceipt, e.g., to the media agent 144 and/or storage manager 140, whichmay update their respective indexes 150, 153 accordingly.

During restore, chunks may be processed (e.g., by the media agent 144)according to the information in the chunk header to reassemble thefiles. Additional information relating to chunks can be found in U.S.Pat. No. 8,156,086, which is incorporated by reference herein.

System Overview

The systems and methods described with respect to FIGS. 1A-1E can beused for table level database restore. In some embodiments, a tablelevel restore module is a software module that forms a part of orresides on the storage manager 140 or, alternatively, the media agents144. The table level restore module can additionally be a softwaremodule executing on one or more of the client computers 102. In someembodiments, the table level restore module may be implemented as a partof the data agent 142. Table level database restore will be discussed inmore detail with respect to FIGS. 2-5.

An Exemplary Data Storage System for Implementing Table Level Restore

FIG. 2 is a data flow diagram illustrative of the interaction betweenthe various components of an exemplary storage system 200 configured toimplement table metadata index for table level database restoreaccording to certain embodiments. As illustrated, the exemplary datastorage system 200 includes a storage manager 210, one or more clients220, one or more information stores 230, one or more data agents 240,one or more table level restore modules 250, one or more databaseapplications 260, one or more media agents 270, and one or moresecondary storage devices 280. The system 200 and correspondingcomponents of FIG. 2 may be similar to or the same as the system 100 andsimilarly named components of FIG. 1D.

Moreover, depending on the embodiment, the system 200 of FIG. 2 mayadditionally include any of the other components shown in FIG. 1D thatare not specifically shown in FIG. 2 (e.g., one or more applications,etc.). The system 200 may include one or more of each component. Allcomponents of the system 200 can be in direct communication with eachother or communicate indirectly via the client 220, the storage manager210, the media agent 270, or the like. In certain embodiments, some ofthe components in FIG. 2 shown as separate components can reside on asingle computing device, or vice versa. For example, the table levelrestore module 250 can be on the media agent 270 or on a separatecomputing device.

A database is generally organized into a number of tables. A table mayrepresent an entity about which data is to be collected (e.g.,employees). A table contains rows and columns of data. A row maycorrespond to data about one instance of the entity represented by thetable (e.g., a particular employee), and columns for a row maycorrespond to attributes for the entity (e.g., Social Security Number,Employee ID, etc.). The primary key for a table is an identifier thatuniquely identifies each row in the table (e.g., Social Security Numberor Employee ID). A primary key can be a combination of columns if suchcombination can uniquely identify a row in the table. Tables are oftenrelated to one another. For example, a record in one table may refer toa value in another table (e.g., the employee table can refer to theDepartment ID column of the department table). A foreign key can be usedto cross-reference tables.

A foreign key identifies a column (or set of columns) in a table thatrefers to a column (or set of columns) in another table. The referencedcolumn (or set of columns) may be the primary key of the other table sothat a unique row in the other table is identified by the foreign key.In this or other possible manners, the data in a database is related toeach other. A relationship may define the association among entities ortables. Relationships may be implemented by constraints, rules thatgenerally restrict allowable data values for a table or a column.

A database may be organized according to a database schema. Databaseschema may generally refer to the structure of a database system and howthe data is organized in the database system. For instance, the schemamay specify how a database is divided into various tables. Each databaseapplication 260 may employ a different database schema. For example, thedatabase schema for Oracle databases may differ from the database schemafor SQL Server databases or DB2 databases.

The term “schema” may have a more distinct meaning in the context of aparticular database system, depending on the type of databaseapplication 260. For example, in an Oracle database, the term “schema”may refer to a collection of database objects owned by a particulardatabase user. In a relational database, the schema may define orspecify the data structures that form the database, and how they relateto one another, including tables, fields, relationships, views, indexes,packages, procedures, functions, queues, triggers, data types,sequences, materialized views, synonyms, database links, directories,Java schemas, XML schemas, and other elements. The schema of a databasemay be described in a formal language supported by the databasemanagement system (“DBMS”).

With further reference to FIG. 2, the interaction between the variouscomponents of the exemplary data storage system will now be described ingreater detail with respect to data flow steps indicated by the numberedarrows.

At data flow step 1, the storage manager 210 initiates backup of adatabase. Backup may run according to a schedule, at user request, basedon certain events, etc. A schedule may be based on the passage of apre-determined amount of time, such as on a regular basis (e.g., after aparticular time interval, such as a certain number of hours or days), oron an intermittent basis. Backup may also be event-based and may betriggered by certain events. Backup can be implemented as one or morestorage policies, and the storage manager 210 may manage such storagepolicies. In some embodiments, the system 200 may provide table levelrestore feature as an option during backup. For example, the systemadministrator may select table level restore as one of the backupparameters.

At data flow step 2, the table level restore module 250 creates and/orstores table metadata index for table level restore. Table metadataindex may include information that can be used to restore a specifictable as well as its related data. For example, such information caninclude metadata relating to a table. Related data of a table mayinclude database application system data, such as database schema,tablespaces, system objects, etc. Related data of a table may alsoinclude metadata relating to any tables referenced by the table. Forinstance, a table may reference one or more other tables in thedatabase. In such case, the table metadata index for a particular tablecan include metadata for the referenced tables, in addition to themetadata for the particular table. The table level restore module 250can create the table metadata index for the tables in a database at thetime of backup to secondary storage. By packaging the metadata for atable and its related data together, the system 200 can restore a tableand its related data in a fast and efficient manner. For example, thesystem 200 can determine, by referring to the table metadata index for atable, what data should be restored in order to completely restore thetable, including all data referenced by the table.

As backup occurs, the table level restore module 250 can traverse thetables in the database, and create and/or store metadata relating to aspecific table in the table metadata index for the table. The tablelevel restore module 250 may be a part of the media agent 270, thestorage manager 210, or a part of another component in the system 200.Or the table level restore module 250 may be on a separate computingdevice. The table level restore module 250 may store the table metadataindex in an index associated with it, e.g., the table level restoreindex 255. In embodiments where the table level restore module 250 is apart of a media agent 270 or the storage manager 210, the table levelrestore index 255 may be a part of the index associated with the mediaagent 270 or the storage manager 210.

As explained above, the table metadata index for a table can provideinformation relating to restoring the table and any related data. Thetable metadata index may include information relating to any of thefollowing items, or any other information: the container for the table(e.g., tablespace), system data for the table, table index, table backuplocation, other tables to which the table is related, etc. Examples oftype of information above are listed for illustrative purposes only, andshould not be considered to be limiting. The table metadata index maynot include some or all of the information listed above depending on theembodiment, and the table metadata index may include other informationnot listed above depending on the embodiment.

A container may refer to a file that includes the data for a specifictable, e.g., a tablespace. In some embodiments, the container may be aphysical container. In other embodiments, the container may be a logicalcontainer. Each table may belong to a tablespace. A tablespace may referto a physical or logical structure used to store tables. A tablespace isgenerally implemented using one or more files in the physical layer. Thephysical layer may contain data files that hold the data for thedatabase. For example, a tablespace may be a storage location where theactual data underlying database objects can be kept. Tablespaces canprovide a layer of abstraction between physical and logical data andallocate storage for database objects. In order to restore the data fora table, the system 200 can determine which container or tablespaceincludes the table data.

System data may refer to system objects, database objects, and/or anyother system information and/or structures used in a database system.Database applications 260 may utilize objects in the database system. Anobject may be a logical grouping of related data and program logic thatrepresents an entity (e.g., an employee, a customer, etc.). The databaseapplications 260 may keep track of objects used in the database systemas a part of system data. System objects and/or database objects used ina table, or in the tablespace associated with the table, may need to berestored along with the table data, and such information can be includedin the table metadata index. In some embodiments, all system data may berestored, and the table metadata index can indicate that all system datashould be restored or default to restoring all system data.

Index may refer to a data structure that improves the speed of dataretrieval operations on a database table. Indexes can be created usingone or more columns of a database table, and provide the basis for rapidrandom lookups and/or efficient access of ordered records. Index for atable can be stored in the table metadata index and be restored alongwith the table data. In some embodiments, the table metadata index mayinclude information about obtaining the index for the table, instead ofstoring the table index itself.

Table backup location may indicate the location in secondary storagewhere the data for a table is stored. In some embodiments, the locationmay indicate the location of the table data within the backup copy ofthe tablespace that contains the table.

The table metadata index may include information about what othertable(s) in the database a table is related to. Such information may bereferred to as “relationship information.” For purposes of explanation,a table for which the table metadata index is created will be referredto as the “current table” in some of the following paragraphs.Relationship information may indicate which tables the current tablereferences or links to. For example, the table metadata index caninclude a list of tables that are referenced by the current table. Insome embodiments, the relationship information indicates which tableslink to the current table, in addition to the tables the current tablelinks to.

Relationship information may also include metadata about the tables thatthe current table references or links to (and about tables thatreference or link to the current table depending on the embodiment).Such metadata can include information relating to tablespace, systemdata, table backup location, index, relationship to other tables, etc.for each of the related tables. The type of information included aboutthe related tables may be the same as or different from the type ofinformation included for the current table, depending on the embodiment.In some embodiments, the table metadata index of a table can indicatewhich tables are related to the table, and the system 200 can obtaindetailed metadata for the related tables by accessing the table metadataindexes for the related tables.

In this manner, the table metadata index for the current table mayinclude all metadata that can be used to restore the current table andall tables related to the current table. The restore of the currenttable and all related data can be performed by referring to the tablemetadata index of the current table.

The information included in the table metadata index and determiningsuch information may vary depending on the database application 260. Forinstance, different database applications 260 may organize the databasesystem according to different database schemas. Database applications260 may also use different system objects or database objects.Accordingly, the type and format of information included in the tablemetadata index can differ for different database applications 260. Inaddition, the process of determining and/or packaging the informationfor the table metadata index may differ. The table level restore module250 may query the corresponding database application 260 in order totraverse the tables for a database application 260, determine tablerelationships, obtain information about system data, etc. The tablelevel restore module 250 may also query the data agents 240 associatedwith the database applications 260.

Creating table metadata index for table level restore will now beexplained with reference to a specific example relating to FIG. 2. InFIG. 2, the client 220 uses two different database applications 260 (DBApplication 1 and DB Application 2). The client 220 may include aseparate data agent 240 for each database application 260. For example,the client 220 may have a data agent 240 specific to Oracle databases, adata agent 240 specific to DB2 databases, and a data agent 240 for SQLServer databases. Each database application 260 may use a differentdatabase schema to organize its data.

In FIG. 2, DB Application 1 includes four tables: Tables 1-4. Table 1references data in Tables 2 and 3, and Table 3 references data in Table4. Each table belongs to a tablespace. In this example, Tables 1 and 2belong to Tablespace A, Table 3 belongs to Tablespace B, and Table 4belongs to Tablespace C. When backup is initiated, the table levelrestore module 250 can traverse the tables for DB Application 1 in orderto create and/or store table metadata index for all or some of thetables for DB Application 1.

As explained above, the table metadata index for a table can includeinformation about tablespace, table schema, system data, table index,backup location, table relationships, etc. For instance, the tablemetadata index for Table 1 can indicate that the tablespace for Table 1is Tablespace A. Table 1 metadata index can also include informationabout the table schema and table index for Table 1. The table schema maydefine the structure of a table, e.g., the columns of the table and thedata type of the columns. The table index can provide a fast andefficient way to search and/or retrieve the data in the table. The tablemetadata index may indicate how or from where the table level restoremodule 250 can obtain the table schema and the table index. In someembodiments, the table metadata index may include the table schema andthe table index themselves.

System data can indicate which system objects or database objects areused by Table 1. A database application 260 may utilize objects as thedata type for a column of a table. Such objects may be defined by thedatabase system or may be user-defined. These objects can be maintainedas system data. For example, Table 1 may have a column about a customer.A customer may have a customer ID, name, and date of birth (“DOB”).Table 1 can use a customer object that has customer ID, name, and DOBfields for the customer column. Information about the customer objectcan be maintained as part of system data (e.g., in system tablespace).In such case, information about the objects used by Table 1, or where toobtain information about the objects used by Table 1, may be included inthe table metadata index of Table 1 so that information relating torestoring Table 1 can be accessed easily. In some embodiments, the tablemetadata index can indicate where in secondary storage the system datacan be obtained from. In other embodiments, the table metadata index caninclude the related system data itself.

The table metadata index can also indicate the backup location of Table1 in secondary storage. Table 1 data may be backed up as part of itstablespace data. For example, Tablespace A data may be backed up to aparticular secondary storage device (e.g., Storage Device 1 280, StorageDevice 2 280, etc.), and the backup copy of Tablespace A can includeTable 1 data since Table 1 belongs to Tablespace A. The backup locationof Table 1 can indicate the location of Table 1 data within theTablespace A backup copy, or the location of Table 1 in secondarystorage.

The table metadata index can also include information regarding tablerelationships. In the specific example for FIG. 2, Table 1 refers toTables 2 and 3. Table 3 in turn refers to Table 4. Table 1 metadataindex may indicate that Table 1 is related to Tables 2, 3, and 4. Table1 metadata index may also include metadata relating to Tables 2, 3, and4. Such metadata can be the same type of information included forTable 1. For example, Table 1 metadata index may include informationrelating to the following with respect to Table 2, which Table 1references:

-   -   tablespace for Table 2 (Tablespace A)    -   table schema for Table 2    -   system data for Table 2 (system and/or database objects used by        Table 2)    -   index for Table 2    -   table relationships for Table 2        Since Table 2 does not reference other tables, Table 1 metadata        index may not include table relationship information or may        indicate that there are no linked tables for Table 2. Table 1        metadata index can include similar information about Table 3.        For instance, the metadata index may indicate that the        tablespace for Table 3 is Tablespace B. Table relationship        information for Table 3 may indicate that Table 3 references        Table 4. Metadata relating to referenced tables may be different        from the type of information included for Table 1.

Table 1 metadata index can indicate table relationships by including alist of all tables that are referenced by Table 1 either directly orindirectly. For example, table relationship information for Table 1 canlist Tables 2, 3, and 4. In some embodiments, tables that are referencedindirectly by Table 1 may be listed in the table relationshipinformation for the table that references it directly. For instance,Table 4 can be listed in the table relationship information for Table 3,and metadata about Table 4 can be included as part of metadata for Table3, since Table 3 references Table 4, but Table 1 does not directlyreference Table 4.

The table level restore module 250 can create and/or store the tablemetadata indexes for Tables 2-4 in a similar manner. Tables 2 and 4 donot refer to other tables, so the table metadata indexes for these twotables may not include table relationship information. Table 3 refers toTable 4, so Table 3 metadata index may include table relationshipinformation and metadata relating to Table 4.

The table level restore module 250 may create separate sets of tablemetadata index for different database applications 260. Accordingly, thetable level restore module 250 can create table metadata index for DBApplication 2 260 in a similar manner.

At data flow step 3, the media agents 270 back up database data and/ortable metadata index. Database data may be copied to one or more storagedevices 280 via one or more media agents 270. One media agent 270 maymanage backup of databases, or two or more media agents 270 may managebackup of databases. Database of a particular database application 260can be copied to one storage device 280, or across multiple storagedevices 280. The data for tables belonging to the same tablespace may becopied as a unit and may be stored on the same storage device 280. Forinstance, data for Tablespace A may be copied to Storage Device 1 280,data for Tablespaces B and C may be copied to Storage Device 2 280, etc.

In certain embodiments, the backup may occur at physical file or blocklevel. In such embodiments, only metadata may be collected at the timeof backup. Such metadata may include all or part of the informationincluded in the table metadata index. One example can be tabledependency information. In some embodiments, the table relationships maybe determined at the time of restore, e.g., from the metadata collectedduring backup.

Information relating to backup may be created, collected, and/or storedby the media agent 270 in an index associated with the media agent 270.Such information may also be stored at the storage manager 210 (e.g., inan index associated with the storage manager). The storage manager 210may consolidate the information from the media agents 270 and also maybroadcast it down to the media agents 270 so that the information can besynchronized. Information relating to backup may include table metadataindex. Table metadata index may be stored in the index associated withthe media agents 270 and/or the storage manager 210. The metadata indexmay also be copied to one or more storage devices 280.

Although data flow step 3 is explained after data flow step 2, steps 2and 3 may not be sequential in order and can occur concurrently. Forinstance, information like backup location can be added to tablemetadata index as database data is being backed up to secondary storage.

While described with respect to a backup copy operation for the purposesof illustration, the techniques described herein are compatible withother types of storage operations, such as, for example, replication,snapshots, archiving and the like. A description of these and otherstorage operations compatible with embodiments described herein isprovided above.

In this manner, the backup copy of a database can be restored on anindividual-table-basis by using table level restore. For example, if theuser wants to restore Table 1, the system 200 can selectively restoreonly Table 1 data and related data. As such, the system 200 does notneed to restore the entire database in order to extract the data for atable. Once a table is restored using table level restore, the table canbe fully functional, and the user can interact with the restored tableto the full extent the user would be able to interact with thecorresponding table in primary storage. For instance, after table levelrestore of Table 1 is completed, the user can browse Table 1 and allother tables referenced by Table 1, can perform queries on Table 1, etc.

In addition, table level restore may allow a data storage system torestore a table from a regular backup copy of the database. A system mayuse both regular backup and table backup for a database. In table levelrestore, the system 200 can use the regular backup to restore a databasetable, in addition to restoring from the table backup.

FIG. 3 is a data flow diagram illustrative of the interaction betweenthe various components of an exemplary storage system 300 configured toimplement table level restore according to certain embodiments. Asillustrated, the exemplary data storage system 300 includes a storagemanager 310, one or more clients 320, one or more information stores330, one or more data agents 340, one or more table level restoremodules 350, one or more database applications 360, one or more mediaagents 370, and one or more secondary storage devices 380. The system300 and corresponding components of FIG. 3 may be similar to or the sameas the system 100, 200 and similarly named components of FIGS. 1D and 2.

Moreover, depending on the embodiment, the system 300 of FIG. 3 mayadditionally include any of the other components shown in FIG. 1D thatare not specifically shown in FIG. 3 (e.g., one or more applications,etc.). The system 300 may include one or more of each component. Allcomponents of the system 300 can be in direct communication with eachother or communicate indirectly via the client 320, the storage manager310, the media agent 370, or the like. In certain embodiments, some ofthe components in FIG. 3 shown as separate components can reside on asingle computing device, or vice versa. For example, the table levelrestore module 350 can be on the media agent 370 or on a separatecomputing device.

With further reference to FIG. 3, the interaction between the variouscomponents of the exemplary data storage system will now be described ingreater detail with respect to data flow steps indicated by the numberedarrows.

At data flow step 1, the user selects a table associated with a databaseapplication 360 for restore. A user interface (UI) may display tablesthat can be restored using table level restore. The UI may be providedby the storage manager 310 (e.g., via storage manager 310 console) andmay be accessed at a client 320. The user may browse and select one ormore tables for table level restore.

At data flow step 2, the client 320 initiates restore for the selectedtable. Once the user selects a table for table level restore, the client320 can initiate restore. The client 320 may send a restore request toone or more media agents 370. In some embodiments, the restore requestmay be sent to the media agents 370 through the storage manager 310.

At data flow step 3, the table level restore module 350 accesses thetable metadata index for the selected table. As explained with respectto FIG. 2, table metadata index may be created during a backup of thedatabase to secondary storage. The table level restore module 350 may bea part of a media agent 370, the storage manager 310, or anothercomponent in the system 300. Or the table level restore module 350 maybe on a separate computing device. If more than one table level restoremodule 350 exists, the restore request may be routed to the table levelrestore module 350 that can provide the table metadata index for theselected table. The table level restore module 350 may have anassociated table level restore index 355, which contains the tablemetadata index for various tables. The table level restore module 350may access the table level restore index 355 in order to obtain thetable metadata index for the selected table. In embodiments where thetable level restore module 350 is a part of a media agent 370 or thestorage manager 310, the table level restore index 355 may be a part ofthe index associated with the media agent 370 or the storage manager310. In some embodiments, secondary storage devices 380 may have a copyof the table metadata index, and the table level restore module 350 mayaccess the table metadata index from the secondary storage devices 380.

As explained with respect to FIG. 2, the table metadata index for aspecific table can provide information for restoring the data of thatspecific table as well as its related data. By referring to the tablemetadata index for the selected table, the table level restore module350 can determine what data needs to be restored for the table, and thelocation of the data to be restored. For example, the table metadataindex for Table 1 may indicate that the data for Table 1 is stored inStorage Device 1 380. Table 1 metadata index may also indicate where thedata for tables related to Table 1 is stored. For instance, Table 1metadata index may indicate that data for Tables 2, 3, and 4 is storedin Storage Device 1 380, Storage Device 2 380, and Storage Device 2 380,respectively. The table metadata index can also provide informationabout any system data used by the selected table, index associated withthe selected table, etc. In some embodiments, the container for a tablemay be a physical container, and a part of the physical container may berestored from secondary storage to restore the table and its relateddata.

The table metadata index can include any information relating torestoring a table and its related data. Related data may include othertables referenced by the table, system data used by the table, etc.Examples of information that may be included in the table metadata indexcan include, but are not limited to, information relating to:tablespace, system data, index, backup location, table relationships,etc. These examples have been explained in detail with respect to FIG.2. Depending on the embodiment, the table metadata index can include oneor more of the above information, or any other information related torestoring a table.

In certain embodiments, the table metadata index and/or the informationincluded in the table metadata index may be generated or collected atthe time of restore. For example, table relationships can be determinedfrom metadata and/or information collected during backup. In someembodiments, the table metadata index for a table can be generated thefirst time the table is restored from a particular backup copy of thedatabase data. The next time the same table is restored from the samebackup copy of the database data, the table level restore module 350 canrefer to the table metadata index for the table.

At data flow step 4, the media agents 370 restore the selected tabledata and its related data. Once the table level restore module 350determines the data to restore and the location of the data to restore,one or more media agents 370 can initiate restore of the data fromappropriate storage devices 380. In some embodiments, the restore may beinitiated through the storage manager 310, and the storage manager 310may instruct one or more media agents 370 to restore the data. The tabledata and its related data can be restored to the information store 330associated with the client 320. After all the data for the table,including its related data, is restored, the user can browse the table.

In some embodiments, the table data and its related data can be restoredto the same database that includes (or included) the primary copy of therestored table. The primary copy of the restored table may refer to theoriginal table that was backed up in the storage devices 380. In otherembodiments, the table and its related data may be restored to adatabase that is different from the database that includes (or included)the primary copy of the restored table. Such database may be for qualityassurance (QA), etc.

Although data flow step 4 is explained after data flow step 4, steps 3and 4 may not be sequential in order and can occur concurrently. Forinstance, restore requests may be sent to the media agents 370 or thestorage manager 310 as the table level restore module 350 figures outwhat data needs to be restored. The table level restore module 350 canproceed to send restore requests without waiting to determine all of thedata that should be restored for the selected table.

While described with respect to a backup copy operation for the purposesof illustration, the techniques described herein are compatible withother types of storage operations, such as, for example, replication,snapshots, archiving and the like. A description of these and otherstorage operations compatible with embodiments described herein isprovided above.

Restoring a table using table metadata index for table level restorewill now be explained with reference to a specific example relating toFIG. 3. In this example, the user selects Table 1 to restore. By usingtable level restore, the user can restore only Table 1 and its relateddata, instead of restoring the entire database. After the user selectsTable 1, the client 320 sends a restore request to the media agents 370or the storage manager 310. The appropriate media agent 370 or thestorage manager 310 receives the request and instructs the associatedtable level restore module 350. The table level restore module 350accesses the table metadata index for Table 1.

In this example, Table 1 metadata index indicates that Table 1 belongsto Tablespace A and that Table 1 data is located at a certain locationwithin the backup copy of Tablespace A. Data for Tablespace A is storedin Storage Device 1 380. The metadata index also includes informationabout obtaining system data, e.g., system objects and/or databaseobjects used by Table 1. Such system data may be obtained from systemtablespace. In some embodiments, the metadata index may include thesystem data itself. The metadata index includes any indexes, orinformation about obtaining the indexes, for Table 1. The metadata indexalso includes a list of tables referenced, directly or indirectly, byTable 1. The list of tables includes Tables 2, 3, and 4. The table levelrestore module 350 can determine from the table relationship informationthat in order to completely restore Table 1, Tables 2, 3, and 4 andtheir related data should also be restored.

The information listed in this example as being included in the tablemetadata index is described for illustrative purposes only, and shouldnot be considered to be limiting. The table metadata index can includeany information used to restore a table and data used and/or referencedby the table. As such, the table metadata index may not include some orall of the information listed above depending on the embodiment. Inaddition, the table metadata index may include other information notlisted above depending on the embodiment.

Once the table level restore module 350 determines what data should berestored, the table level restore module 350 can instruct one or moremedia agents 370 to restore the appropriate data from the storagedevices 380. For example, Media Agent 1 370 restores Tablespace A datafrom Storage Device 1 380, and Media Agent 2 370 restores Tablespace Band Tablespace C data from Storage Device 2 380. Portions of data can berestored concurrently from the storage devices 380 (e.g., Table 1 dataand Table 3 data, which are in separate storage devices 380).

In one embodiment, the process of restoring the table data involves theuse of an auxiliary database. Data for the tablespace that contains theselected table is restored to the auxiliary database. The system dataand table index for the selected table are also restored to theauxiliary database. The same process is performed for the tables thatare referenced by the selected table. Then, the data for the table andits referenced tables is extracted and exported to the file system.

In this manner, a table and what the table references can be restoredwithout having to restore the entire database. Once the table isrestored using table level restore, the table can be fully functional.For example, the user can browse, query, and otherwise use the table tothe same or similar extent as the original table in primary storage(e.g., the information store 330).

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrative of one embodiment of a routine forcreating table metadata index for table level database restore accordingto certain embodiments. The routine 400 is described with respect to thesystem 200 of FIG. 2. However, one or more of the steps of routine 400may be implemented by other data storage systems, such as thosedescribed in greater detail above with reference to FIG. 1D. The routine400 can be implemented by any one, or a combination of, a client, astorage manager, a data agent, a table level restore module, a mediaagent, and the like. Moreover, further details regarding certain aspectsof at least some of steps of the routine 400 are described in greaterdetail above with reference to FIG. 2. Although described in relation tobackup operations for the purposes of illustration, the process of FIG.4 can be compatible with other types of storage operations, such as, forexample, migration, snapshots, replication operations, and the like.

At block 401, the media agent 270 receives instructions to back up adatabase. The media agent 270 may receive such instructions from thestorage manager 210. For example, the storage manager 210 can instructone or more media agents 270 to initiate backup according to a schedule,at user request, based on events, etc. In some embodiments, the mediaagent 270 may receive the instructions from a client 220.

At block 402, the table level restore module 250 creates table metadataindex for table level restore. A table level restore module 250 may beassociated with the media agent 270. The table level restore module 250may be a part of the media agent 270 or reside on a separate computingdevice. The table level restore module 250 traverses the table structureof the database and creates a table metadata index for all or some ofthe tables in the database. The table level restore module 250 may querythe corresponding database application 260 to obtain the databaseschema, table relationships, etc.

As explained with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3, the table metadata index ofa table may contain information for restoring the table and any datareferenced by the table. The metadata index can include informationregarding the tablespace to which the table belongs, table backuplocation in secondary storage, table indexes, system data used by thetable, tables that are referenced by the table and metadata about suchtables, etc. The type of information included in the table metadataindex can vary, depending on the embodiment. The table metadata indexmay be stored in the table level restore index 255 associated with thetable level restore module 250.

At block 403, the media agent 270 backs up the database data and/or thetable metadata index. The media agents 270 can copy the data for thedatabase to secondary storage devices 280 while it creates the tablemetadata index for the tables in the database. Data of a tablespace maybe stored together, e.g., in the same storage device 280. The mediaagent 270 may also store the table metadata index in the storage devices280.

The routine 400 can include fewer, more, or different blocks than thoseillustrated in FIG. 4 without departing from the spirit and scope of thedescription. Moreover, it will be appreciated by those skilled in theart and others that some or all of the functions described in thisdisclosure may be embodied in software executed by one or moreprocessors of the disclosed components and mobile communication devices.The software may be persistently stored in any type of non-volatilestorage.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrative of one embodiment of a routine forrestoring a table using table level database restore according tocertain embodiments. The routine 500 is described with respect to thesystem 300 of FIG. 3. However, one or more of the steps of routine 500may be implemented by other data storage systems, such as thosedescribed in greater detail above with reference to FIGS. 1D and 2. Theroutine 500 can be implemented by any one, or a combination of, aclient, a storage manager, a data agent, a table level restore module, amedia agent, and the like. Moreover, further details regarding certainaspects of at least some of steps of the routine 500 are described ingreater detail above with reference to FIG. 3. Although described inrelation to backup operations for the purposes of illustration, theprocess of FIG. 5 can be compatible with other types of storageoperations, such as, for example, migration, snapshots, replicationoperations, and the like.

At block 501, the media agent 370 receives instructions to restore adatabase table. The media agent 370 may receive the instructions fromthe client 320. For example, the user may select a table for restore atthe client 320. Or the system 300 may determine that a table needs to berestored, e.g., because the data for the table is corrupt.

At block 502, the table level restore module 350 accesses the tablemetadata index for the table to be restored. The table level restoremodule 350 may be associated with the media agent 370 that received theinstructions to restore the table. The table level restore module 350may be a part of the media agent 370 or reside on a separate computingdevice. The table metadata index for the table may be stored in thetable level restore index 355 associated with the table level restoremodule 350. In some embodiments, the table metadata index may be storedin secondary storage devices 380, and the table level restore module 350can access the table metadata index in the secondary storage devices380.

The table metadata index for the table can provide information forrestoring the selected table and any data referenced by the table. Suchinformation may be packaged in an easy to access manner (e.g., as aunit, in one file, etc.). By packaging the information for restoring atable and its related data, the system 300 can restore the data for atable quickly and efficiently.

The metadata index can include information regarding the tablespace towhich the table belongs, table backup location in secondary storage,table indexes, system data used by the table, tables that are referencedby the table and metadata about such tables, etc. The type ofinformation included in the table metadata index can vary, depending onthe embodiment.

At block 503, the media agent 370 restores the table data and relateddata. Once the table level restore module 350 determines from the tablemetadata index what data needs to be restored from where, one or moremedia agents 370 can restore the data from secondary storage devices380. Each media agent 370 can restore data that is stored in storagedevice(s) 380 associated with it. The data may be restored to theinformation store 330 associated with the requesting client 320. In someembodiments, the data may be copied to an auxiliary database, and thedata for the table and the related tables is extracted and copied to theinformation store 330.

The routine 500 can include fewer, more, or different blocks than thoseillustrated in FIG. 5 without departing from the spirit and scope of thedescription. Moreover, it will be appreciated by those skilled in theart and others that some or all of the functions described in thisdisclosure may be embodied in software executed by one or moreprocessors of the disclosed components and mobile communication devices.The software may be persistently stored in any type of non-volatilestorage.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary user interface 600 for selecting table leveldatabase restore as an option for backup according to certainembodiments. The example screenshot shown in FIG. 6 displays the tablelevel restore feature as an option during backup. The example screenshotlists the option as “Enable Table Browse.” By selecting this option as abackup parameter, the system administrator can enable table levelrestore during a backup. One or more media agents can then traverse thedatabase tables and create table metadata index for table level restorewhen a backup occurs.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary user interface 700 for restoring a table usingtable level database restore according to certain embodiments. Theexample screenshot shown in FIG. 7 displays a list of tables that may berestored using table level restore. A user may select a table restorefrom the list, e.g., by clicking on the checkbox next to the table, asshown in FIG. 7. When the user selects the table, the user may specifyparameters associated with the table level restore of the table, e.g.,using a pop-up window, as shown in FIG. 7. For example, the user maychoose to use an auxiliary database for the restore. Once a table isselected for restore, a media agent may receive instructions to restorethe table and its related data.

Terminology

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Depending on the embodiment, certain acts, events, or functions of anyof the algorithms described herein can be performed in a differentsequence, can be added, merged, or left out all together (e.g., not alldescribed acts or events are necessary for the practice of thealgorithms). Moreover, in certain embodiments, acts or events can beperformed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing,interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processor cores or onother parallel architectures, rather than sequentially.

Systems and modules described herein may comprise software, firmware,hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or hardwaresuitable for the purposes described herein. Software and other modulesmay reside on servers, workstations, personal computers, computerizedtablets, PDAs, and other devices suitable for the purposes describedherein. Software and other modules may be accessible via local memory,via a network, via a browser, or via other means suitable for thepurposes described herein. Data structures described herein may comprisecomputer files, variables, programming arrays, programming structures,or any electronic information storage schemes or methods, or anycombinations thereof, suitable for the purposes described herein. Userinterface elements described herein may comprise elements from graphicaluser interfaces, command line interfaces, and other suitable interfaces.

Further, the processing of the various components of the illustratedsystems can be distributed across multiple machines, networks, and othercomputing resources. In addition, two or more components of a system canbe combined into fewer components. Various components of the illustratedsystems can be implemented in one or more virtual machines, rather thanin dedicated computer hardware systems. Likewise, the data repositoriesshown can represent physical and/or logical data storage, including, forexample, storage area networks or other distributed storage systems.Moreover, in some embodiments the connections between the componentsshown represent possible paths of data flow, rather than actualconnections between hardware. While some examples of possibleconnections are shown, any of the subset of the components shown cancommunicate with any other subset of components in variousimplementations.

Embodiments are also described above with reference to flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products. Each block of the flow chart illustrationsand/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented by computerprogram instructions. Such instructions may be provided to a processorof a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer orother programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the acts specified in the flow chart and/or block diagramblock or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to operate in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the acts specified in the flow chart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatusto cause a series of operations to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process suchthat the instructions which execute on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus provide steps for implementing the acts specifiedin the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the disclosure. Indeed, the novel methods and systems describedherein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, variousomissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the describedmethods and systems may be made without departing from the spirit of thedisclosure. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intendedto cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope andspirit of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A data storage system for restoring a databasetable from a copy of a plurality of database tables stored in the datastorage system, the system comprising: a first computing devicecomprising one or more hardware processors and computer memory, whereinthe first computing device is configured to: in a first storageoperation, generate a backup copy of a database that comprises aplurality of tables, wherein a first table among the plurality comprisesa first record that references a second record in a second table of theplurality; during the first storage operation, further generate a tablemetadata index for the first table, wherein the table metadata indexcomprises information for restoring the first table and any datareferenced by the first table, including the second table; store thebackup copy in secondary storage of the data storage system; store thetable metadata index at the first computing device; receive a request torestore the first table from the secondary storage; in response to therequest, determine based on the information in the table metadata index,one or more locations of the first table and of any data referenced bythe first table in the secondary storage; restore the first table andany data referenced by the first table, including the second table, fromthe one or more locations in the secondary storage to a primary storagethat is distinct from the secondary storage; and wherein other tables inthe plurality of tables of the database that are not referenced by thefirst table are not restored as a result of the request.
 2. The systemof claim 1, wherein the table metadata index indicates a location of thefirst table in one or more of: the secondary storage and the backupcopy.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the table metadata indexindicates a location of the second table in one or more of: thesecondary storage and the backup copy.
 4. The system of claim 1, whereinthe table metadata index includes information for determining a locationof the second table in one or more of: the secondary storage and thebackup copy.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the table metadata indexis usable to restore the first table and any data referenced by thefirst table, and is not usable to restore other tables in the pluralityof tables of the database that are not referenced by the first table. 6.The system of claim 1, wherein the first table further comprises another record that references a third record in a third table of theplurality; wherein the table metadata index further comprisesinformation for restoring the third table; wherein the restoringincludes the third table; and wherein other tables in the plurality oftables of the database that are not referenced by the first table arenot restored as a result of the request.
 7. The system of claim 1,further comprising generating a separate table metadata index for eachof the plurality of tables of the database.
 8. The system of claim 1,wherein the table metadata index comprises information about one or moreof: a container for the first table, system data for the first table, atable index for the first table, and one or more tables referenced bythe first table.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the system datacomprises one or more of: a system object, a database object, a databaseschema of the database, and a data structure used by a databaseapplication that generates the database.
 10. The system of claim 1,wherein the generating of the table metadata index for the first tableis based on querying an application that generates the database to oneor more of: traverse the plurality of tables of the database, determinerelationships between tables in the plurality of tables of the database,determine that the first record of the first table references the secondrecord of the second table, and obtain a schema of the database.
 11. Acomputer-implemented method of restoring a database table from a copy ofa plurality of database tables stored in a data storage system, themethod comprising: using one or more computing devices comprisingcomputer hardware: in a first storage operation, generating a backupcopy of a database that comprises a plurality of tables, wherein a firsttable among the plurality comprises a first record that references asecond record in a second table of the plurality; during the firststorage operation, further generating a table metadata index for thefirst table, wherein the table metadata index comprises information forrestoring the first table and any data referenced by the first table,including the second table; storing the backup copy in secondary storageof the data storage system; storing the table metadata index at a firstone of the one or more computing devices, wherein the first computingdevice is distinct from the secondary storage; in response to a requestreceived by the first computing device to restore the first table fromthe secondary storage, accessing the table metadata index to determineone or more locations in the secondary storage of the first table and ofany data referenced by the first table; restoring the first table andany data referenced by the first table, including the second table, fromthe one or more locations in the secondary storage to a primary storagethat is distinct from the secondary storage; and wherein other tables inthe plurality of tables of the database that are not referenced by thefirst table are not restored as a result of the request.
 12. The methodof claim 11, wherein the table metadata index indicates a location ofthe first table in one or more of: the secondary storage and the backupcopy.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the table metadata indexindicates a location of the second table in one or more of: thesecondary storage and the backup copy.
 14. The method of claim 11,wherein the table metadata index includes information for determining alocation of the second table in one or more of: the secondary storageand the backup copy.
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein the tablemetadata index is usable to restore the first table and any datareferenced by the first table, and is not usable to restore other tablesin the plurality of tables of the database that are not referenced bythe first table.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the first tablefurther comprises an other record that references a third record in athird table of the plurality; wherein the table metadata index furthercomprises information for restoring the third table; wherein therestoring includes the third table; and wherein other tables in theplurality of tables of the database that are not referenced by the firsttable are not restored as a result of the request.
 17. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising generating a separate table metadata indexfor each of the plurality of tables of the database.
 18. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the table metadata index comprises information aboutone or more of: a container for the first table, system data for thefirst table, a table index for the first table, and one or more tablesreferenced by the first table.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein thesystem data comprises one or more of: a system object, a databaseobject, a database schema of the database, and a data structure used bya database application that generates the database.
 20. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the generating of the table metadata index for thefirst table is based on querying an application that generates thedatabase to one or more of: traverse the plurality of tables of thedatabase, determine relationships between tables in the plurality oftables of the database, determine that the first record of the firsttable references the second record of the second table, and obtain aschema of the database.